All I have to do is die
by TwilightNocturne74
Summary: Voldemort defeated, Ginny is ready to enter her final year at Hogwarts as Head Girl. However, things will change now that there’s a transfer student who looks exactly like Tom Riddle. GWTR.
1. Prologue

**All I Have To Do Is Die**

**Summary: ****Voldemort defeated, Ginny is ready to enter her final year at Hogwarts as Head Girl. However, things will change, now that there's a transfer student who looks exactly like Tom Riddle.**

**A/N: I've opened myself up to yet another fanfiction, while I have 4 unfinished ones. Wow, am I an idiot! But I came up with a really good idea here! This part is just the prologue; an explanation of what's happened so far. Well, I hope you enjoy it!**

----_Prologue_----

It had been a month since Dumbledore's death. Harry had gotten over it rather quickly, in some people's opinions. It wasn't that he didn't miss the old headmaster, there was just no point in mourning. It was a waste of time for the boy – now a young man. His focus was on finding the horcruxes, especially the locket.

Over the summer, Harry and his close friends searched 12 Grimmauld place for the locket. When they did not find it, they confronted Mundungus Fletcher. But the locket was not to be found. It wasn't until they cornered Kreacher that they found the locket to be in his possession. "Dirty little elf, stealing from me…" Mundungus had said. Harry hadn't bothered to reprimand him. He destroyed the horcrux; that was all that mattered to him.

His friends could tell you that there was a definite change in Harry's behaviour. No more was that young boy, the boy-who-lived, so eager to defeat the man who killed his parents. Now he was the "Chosen One," not out for revenge, nor for glory. He was out for blood. He knew he was the only one who could do the job, and all that mattered to him was to get that job done. The boy-who-lived had grown up.

The school year started, but Harry did not attend. He spent the entire year searching for the horcruxes, and he had insisted on doing it alone. His friends were okay with it at first, but then it bothered them. Harry could get himself killed very easily. He needed them, whether or not he would admit it.

Ginny Weasley especially missed Harry. Sure, she had broken up with him so that he could go on to fight Voldemort, but she knew that something was not right. Where her friends and family had not shown her much attention before, they now were there for her; however, she would always refuse to talk to any of them about the situation. She wanted Harry back, and that was all.

A lot had changed in Hogwarts, besides the headmaster's passing on and Snape's running away. Slughorn had retired, and a new Professor Gray had become the Potions teacher and head of Slytherin House. McGonagall was in charge of the school as headmistress, and had given the responsibility of Gryffindor House to Hagrid. The new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher was one Professor Blue, who was the only "normal" DADA teachers Hogwarts had seen in years.

Towards the end of that year, Harry had destroyed the last of the horcruxes. Weakened and realizing what had happened, Voldemort searched for Harry. Thus begins the duel, the one that will change everyone's lives forever. Harry's victory is an easy one, as the war is ended, and freedom is retained again. Harry goes on to become an auror like he wanted, and his two best friends join him in doing so.

Voldemort's body was burned in a fire that many had come to see, to make sure the dark wizard had truly been defeated. It was too good to be true. Some people refused to believe it, considering the fact that Voldemort had come back once before. Those who believed strongly that Voldemort was still alive soon found themselves thinking otherwise. And as the truth sank in, everyone was able to breathe easier.

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**Well, what do you think? Please leave a review, as it will be greatly appreciated.**


	2. Leaving for the last time

**A/N: yes! First chapter is up! I hope you guys love it as much as I do… Anywho I wanted to further explain the title. 'All I have to do is die' is short for 'good to know that if I ever need attention all I have to do is die.' You may think that's stupid, but it's not! It's actually the title of a song by Brand New. Any Brand New fans out there? I'm not talking about you, Meg! Lol. Anyway, the lyrics remind me of Ginny and Tom a lot, so I thought I should name this fic after that song. The end. Haha.**

**Chapter 1: Leaving for the last time**

It is now Ginny's 7th year in Hogwarts. She is the last Weasley child left in the school, so leaving on the Hogwarts express this year is a big deal for Molly, who'll never have this experience again, unless she has grandchildren. The entire Weasley family, including Percy, came out to see Ginny off for the year.

"Oh, Ginnyikins! I'm so proud of you, dear!" Molly hugged her daughter tight while holding back tears. Ginny nearly suffocated.

"Thanks, mum," she mumbled from beneath the death-hold.

"Congratulations on making Head Girl," Percy said to his younger sister. She smiled up at him.

"Thank you. All of you, really. Thank you so much! I have to go, now…" Ginny picked up her bags and headed towards the train.

"We'll miss ya, Gin," Ron said.

"Don't forget to write," George said.

"I won't." Ginny gave her final goodbyes to her family, pulled herself away from a weeping Molly who was acting as if she were at a funeral, and then boarded the train.

Once inside, Ginny headed straight for the heads compartment. It was empty for now, and she took a seat by the window. Not seconds later did the Head Boy enter.

"Ah, so you must be Ginny. I'm Stuart Kent of Hufflepuff," he said, extending a hand. Ginny shook it and smiled in a friendly manner.

"It's nice to meet you," she said.

"Seeing as we'll be working together, we may as well get to know one another. Anything you'd like to say?" he questioned.

"Well, what is there to say about me?" Ginny asked.

"For one thing, you're gorgeous," Stuart said before he could stop himself. Ginny blushed slightly but did a good job of hiding it.

"You're pretty brave for a Hufflepuff."

"Well, we Hufflepuffs are always very honest. Besides, I wouldn't want to get on your bad side, would I?" Ginny grinned.

"I like you, Kent. I think we'll get along just fine."

"That's good to hear."

Just then, a group of students, presumably the prefects, entered the compartment.

"Ah, the slaves have arrived," Stuart said jokingly.

"Yes, we have the power to push them around, don't we? This should be fun," Ginny said. She looked at the students in front of her. There were six students from each house, and if the heads compartment wasn't larger than the other compartments, it would have been extremely crowded.

"This year we have a transfer student from Beauxbatons," Stuart said, "and the headmistress has informed me that he'll be arriving at Hogwarts in time for the sorting. He is in his 7th year, and I was appointed to show him around the castle during the sorting. So I won't be around at the time. Ginny, I hope you can manage everything without me." Ginny nodded. "Good. Now to begin. 5th years, you're new to the whole prefect thing, so listen up. Each one of you has been appointed this position by the headmistress, which means that she can trust you all with her life. You must set an example for your fellow students. Am I clear? That includes keeping your grades up. Otherwise you will be stripped of your prefect's badge. Got it?" The prefects all nodded their heads, and the 5th years looked especially worried.

"Anything you'd like to add, Ginny?"

"Um… just do your best! Being a prefect takes a lot of responsibility, but it also takes confidence," she said.

"Wise words," Stuart commented.

"Can we go now?" one of the Slytherins asked.

"Yeah, yeah. Go!" Stuart said. One by one the prefects filed out of the compartment.

"So," Ginny said once they were alone, "about this transfer student… do you know what he looks like?" Stuart laughed.

"Well, I haven't seen him, but I heard he was quite the looker…"

"Really? In that case, I'll take care of him for you!"

"Heh. Whatever you say. Makes my job a lot easier," Stuart said.

"Great! Thanks, Kent," Ginny said.

"No problem," he replied. "I'll see you later." He stepped out of the compartment.

_God, _Ginny thought, _why did I agree to help the transfer student? I guess because I thought it'd be exciting to have a new student for once. That's never happened before since I've been in this school. I wonder if he really is good-looking…_

Ginny glanced out of the window. They were nearing their destination already. She grabbed her suitcase and took out her uniform to get changed.

A few minutes later, Ginny emerged from the compartment, dressed and ready to go. She tugged at her skirt, which kept riding up.

"I swear, these uniform skirts keep getting shorter and shorter each year…" She muttered to herself.

"Hey, Ginny!" Ginny turned around and smiled at Luna Lovegood.

"Hi, Luna. How was your summer?" she asked.

"It was great. I met a guy who reads the Quibbler like it's the Bible! And he's really dreamy, too…" At that moment, the train came to a halt.

"Well, I'll see you around," Ginny said. She gathered her bags and got out of the train.

When they got to the castle, Ginny entered the Great Hall and her eyes immediately scanned the room. She was searching for the transfer student, but she couldn't see anyone that she did not recognize already.

Ginny sat down at the front of the Gryffindor table. She glanced across the hall at the Hufflepuffs where she spotted Stuart Kent.

Hagrid entered the Hall, followed by a group of nervous-looking first years. Among the youngsters was a taller figure whose face Ginny could not make out.

Hagrid stood at the front of the room now and cleared his throat several times. Some students looked up, but most paid no attention whatsoever. Since Dumbledore's death, nobody cared for the rules, and the prefects especially were shown little respect if any at all.

Professor McGonagall stood up from her seat and yelled, "Quiet!" The entire hall echoed in silence. More respect was shown for McGonagall, who had taken over the school since the headmaster passed on.

"Thank yeh, Minerva," Hagrid said, then, adressing the students, "Erm… this year, we don't have very many new first years, due to the concern of many parents for their children's safety. However, we do have more new students than we did last year. In fact, we have a 7th year transfer student from Beauxbatons. I'd like to introduce to you Mr. Paul Elddir."

The figure emerged from among the group of first years. He stepped up next to Hagrid, looked around, and grinned.

Seeing his face more clearly now, Ginny gasped. The transfer student was none other than Tom Riddle.

-

**what did you think? Next chapter will be up shortly, it's already written. Review!**


	3. Black eyes

**Chapter II: Black Eyes**

_Seeing his face more clearly now, Ginny gasped. The transfer student was none other than Tom Riddle._

-

Ginny almost fell off of her chair in shock. _It's him! It's really him!_

"Thank you, 'agrid," he said with a quite noticeable accent. "I 'ope zis year will prove to be very… effective." He put an emphasis on the last word while he was grinning that evil grin… and he was looking straight at Ginny. She squirmed in her seat, suddenly feeling very uneasy.

How can this be possible, Ginny thought to herself, Voldemort is dead. He shouldn't be here, especially not in teenage form. I mean, what's up with that? And… and, how come nobody's recognized him? That should be a big giveaway… well, not to the students, I guess. But to the teachers! McGonagall? Hagrid? They should have recognized him and kicked his bum all the way back to Beauxbatons, if that's really where he came from. I know what he's doing here anyway. Tom, I mean. He's here to stalk me. He wants to possess me like he did back in my first year at Hogwarts.

Tom sat down on the stool and placed the sorting hat on his head. Everyone watched eagerly.

_Oh gods, they're sorting him now, _Ginny thought._ This shouldn't take very long… Well, actually, it is taking long. Why? Isn't it quite obvious that he's an evil dark lord and belongs in Slytherin? _

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat finally shouted.

"What!" Ginny shouted. _Oh God… did I just say that out loud? Crap. Everyone's staring at me now. Oh, it's okay now… they're all clapping for him. The Gryffindors, at least. And here he comes. He's looking at me and walking towards me. Double crap._

"'ello," he said.

"H-hi," Ginny said, trying to sound polite yet with a hint of nervousness in her voice. He grinned. She shuddered.

She kept her eyes away from his face… looking at him brought back one too many memories for her. He was exactly as she remembered. Incredibly handsome, yet evil.

"You are ze 'ead Girl, no?"

"Um…" Ginny tried concentrating on his nose so she wouldn't have to look him in the eye. "Yes, that's me. Head Girl."

"Oh. It is nice to meet you," he said. Ginny just nodded. _Say something! _she thought.

"Um… uh, yeah. Nice to meet you too. I'm Ginny Weasley," she said, extending her hand.

"Paul Elddir; it is a pleasure," he said, gently taking her hand and placing his lips to it. Ginny snatched her hand away quickly.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, "I need to use the lavatory. Um, I'll be right back." She dashed as fast as she could into the loos and glanced at her reflection in the mirror. Her face was all red. _Oh, damn it! Why am I so flustered? He just kissed my hand, and… Oh, get a GRIP, Ginevra!_ Ginny splashed her face with cold water and took a deep breath before going back out into the Great Hall.

'Paul' was still there, and he hadn't seen her come out yet. The sorting had already begun. Ginny looked around for a way to escape. Seeing Stuart, she rushed over towards him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around.

"Hey, Ginny. Back so soon? What happened?" he asked.

"Look, Kent, I can't do this. Can you please just take him for me? I can't do this," Ginny said.

"Hey, No sweat. But, what's the problem? Are you worried he won't like you?" Stuart asked.

"No, that's not it at all, I–"

"Relax. You've got nothing to lose. Come on, Ginny. Go over there and work your Gryffindor charm on him," Stuart said, pushing Ginny over towards Paul. Ginny tried to protest, but before she knew it, she was standing right in front of Paul.

_Blimey, what do I do now? s_he thought.

"_Bonjour_; we meet again, Ginny Weasley," Paul said. Ginny stood there and didn't reply. She was looking straight into his eyes. _Not good, not good, not good, not good…_

"Um, uh… Let's go." She grabbed his arm and quickly pulled him into the hallway.

"Where shall we go to first, then? I 'ave seen already the Great 'all," Paul said.

"I think you know your way around here better than I do," Ginny said. _Crap, crap and triple crap. What am I saying?_

"What are you talking about? I am new 'ere. I do not know my way," Paul said. Ginny sighed. _Maybe it's not really him… maybe I'm going crazy, _she thought.

"Oh, right… I'm sorry. Um, how about I take you through your classrooms first. What classes are you taking?" Ginny asked calmly.

"I am taking Advanced Potions, Advanced Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Transfiguration, and Astronomy," Paul replied. Ginny's heart sank. Those were the exact same classes she was taking. Which meant, of course, she would be around the Tom imposter all day, every day.

"Yes, well. It's off to the dungeons first, I suppose. Follow me." Ginny led Paul to the dungeons and tried to keep as much distance from him as possible throughout the entire tour.

"And finally," Ginny said between breaths after walking all the way up the stairs to the Astronomy Tower, "this is the Astronomy Tower. Let's go now, we're done," Ginny said, turning back around to go. But Paul grabbed her arm.

"_Très belle_, Mm'selle Ginny," Paul said.

"Oh, yes. You should see it at night," she said.

"_Non_. I meant you," Paul said. She looked into his black eyes – _Dammit, stop doing that!_ –and she blushed. _Wait a minute, _she thought, _Black. Black eyes… Tom's eyes are blue! It's not him!_

"Ginny?" Paul said, for she had been staring into space for about a minute and a half.

"Oh," Ginny snapped back into reality. "Sorry. Um, why don't we go back now?" And she hurried down the stairs.

-

**a/n: Sorry it's so short. And crap. And that I took long to update. I've been busy with school and such. Anywho, that chapter came out pretty well, considering I have no clue how I want this story to go. Actually, I know exactly what I want to happen. I just need help figuring out how to make it happen, as usual. Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed it.**

**REVIEW!**


	4. Until We Meet Again

**Chapter III: Until We Meet Again**

Ginny brought Paul back to the Gryffindor common room. She felt slightly relieved when she'd found out about his eyes being black instead of blue, but not quite relieved enough. Paul's presence still bothered her, and she couldn't take it anymore.

The next morning Ginny woke up to a rather annoying poking at her foot. It was her roommate, Tara, trying to wake her up. Ginny checked the clock; only 6 in the morning.

"Tara, what the hell are you doing? It's way too early in the morning!" Ginny moaned. She was not at all a morning person.

"Ginny, get a grip. There's an owl for you," Tara explained.

"Oh." Ginny rolled over and sat up, looking towards the window. There was indeed a black owl with golden eyes perched on the sill. Attached to its leg was a single red rose and a letter. _Who could have sent this?_ She tried to think of all the possibilities, but none came to mind. She took the rose and placed it on her desk. Then she opened the letter.

_Ginevra,_

_I cannot express my gratitude enough for your help yesterday. I hope this rose does the job for now._

_With much affection,_

_Paul Elddir_

"Who's it from?" Tara asked. Ginny stared at her blankly.

"It's… from Paul," she said.

"The new guy? Wow, you're really lucky! He is so gorgeous!"

"I know," Ginny said, although she failed to share her roommate's enthusiasm. All she could think was, _What did he mean by 'I hope this rose does the job _for now_'? For now? And he ended it with 'with much affection.' Does this mean he likes me? Or is he just messing with me because he's really Tom Riddle trying to pass for a french exchange student with black eyes and he's actually stalking me?_

-

Ginny expected Paul to talk to her during breakfast, but he didn't. Instead he was busy conversing with a large group of Gryffindors, one of which was Ginny's friend, Colin Creevey. He seemed to be the center of attention, and everyone was having a good laugh. Paul glanced at Ginny as she walked in, winked, and turned his attention back to the crowd. He didn't acknowledge her for the rest of the meal. _He sure makes friends fast,_ Ginny thought.

The bell rang for classes to begin, and Ginny stood up amongst the mass of students and made her way out of the Great Hall. She entered her Advanced Potions classroom and had a seat. Colin Creevey sat down next to her.

"Hi, Ginny," he said with a bright smile.

"Hey, Colin. How are you?"

"Better than ever. And you?" Ginny smiled.

"I'm fine," …_I'd better ask him about Paul…_ "Um, so I saw you talking to Paul at breakfast…"

"Oh. Yeah, he's a really nice bloke," Colin said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. He said he'd let me take some pictures of him after school for the school paper. Luna's going to write an article about him," Colin replied.

"School paper?" Ginny forgot all about Paul now. She was much more interested in Hogwarts having a school paper.

"Yeah," said Colin, "Luna and I got permission from McGonagall to start a school newspaper. It's going to be a hit. You can help out if you'd like. Maybe even be our supervisor."

"Really? What about you and Luna?" Ginny asked.

"I'm the photographer; I can't be the supervisor. And Luna is our journalist. But you'd be perfect for the job of supervisor."

"Well, that sounds like fun," said Ginny.

"What sounds like fun?" Ginny turned around to see who was speaking. It was Paul.

"The school newspaper," Ginny replied.

"Oh, those are loads of fun. We– do you mind if I sit 'ere?" he asked Ginny abruptly, pointing to the seat across from her.

"Not at all," she replied.

"Thank you." He sat down. "Anyway, as I was saying, we 'ad a school newspaper at Beauxbatons. I was the chief editor of it, and the president of the journalism club. If you'd like, I will 'elp you out with this paper," he suggested.

"Really? Could you?" Colin asked.

"If you allow me," Paul said.

"Oh, it would be an honor," Colin said. "Hey, maybe you could supervise for us! We need someone who's had experience."

"Are you sure?" Paul asked. Colin nodded.

"Definitely. You'd be perfect," he said.

"Alright then," Paul replied. "I'll be your supervisor. When do we meet to discuss this paper?"

"After school today. After I take pictures of you. You'll be on the front page of our first issue," Colin said.

"I'll be there," Paul said.

"Great," said Colin. He turned to Ginny. "Isn't it wonderful, Ginny? President of the Beauxbatons journalism club _and _chief editor of the newspaper, supervising our paper!"

"Oh yeah, wonderful," Ginny mumbled. She was not at all happy that Colin had just given away her job as supervisor to the reincarnation of Lord Voldemort who supposedly had a crush on her.

-

Although Ginny had previously made a note to try to ignore Paul throughout the day, despite having _every_ _single _class with him, he was too busy paying attention to the teachers or talking to his new friends than to be bothering her. All the teachers loved him, and all the students admired him. Only Ginny seemed to show any sign of loathing towards him, and even then, she kept it to herself.

"Luna?" Ginny confronted her friend during dinner. Luna looked up from her meal of mashed potatoes and broccoli.

"Yes?"

"What do you think of Paul Elddir?" she asked calmly.

"He's really nice," Luna said dreamily. Ginny sighed. This was not what she wanted to hear. All she wanted was for somebody to see a flaw in him. Just one tiny little thing about him that was not perfect. Anything.

"Why?" Luna added.

"Um…." Ginny hadn't thought about that yet. _Quick,_ she told herself, _think of an excuse!_

"Do you like him or something?" Luna asked. Ginny felt her face get hot at that moment, but her expression quickly changed to one of disgust.

"Please," she said, "He likes me."

"Oh, I see. So the feeling's not mutual then?" Luna asked.

"Not a chance," Ginny said with a grin of loathing. Luna mistook her grin for one of contentment.

"Why are you so happy then?" she asked.

"I don't know," Ginny said. She picked up her fork and shoveled some food into her mouth.

"Well," said Luna, "Don't be coming to me with your love problems. I've got my own love life to deal with." Ginny looked up.

"Oh? Is this about the guy you met over the summer?" Luna nodded.

"His name is Anthony. I got a letter from him this morning, saying that he misses me and can't wait to see me again," she said.

"Where does he go to school?" Ginny asked.

"He doesn't. He's 21." Ginny almost choked on her food.

"Isn't that a little old?" she asked.

"Come on, Gin. It's only 4 years. It won't seem so far apart when I'm 102 and he's 106, right?"

"I suppose so," Ginny replied. She sighed. Luna had a boyfriend, but she didn't. She had nobody, not even Harry Potter. Harry, who had promised her that after the war, he would come back for her. But he never did. He became too famous to care about her anymore.

-

After dinner, Ginny went to the library to do her homework. The common room had been too crowded and noisy. And Paul happened to be the center of attention once again. Ginny decided that she wanted nothing to do with him.

She had left the common room so abruptly, that she hadn't noticed Paul looking in her direction. She hadn't realized that he would try to follow her into the empty library, just a few minutes later.

Ginny flipped her Advanced Potions textbook open and began to read. She became so wrapped up in her work that she hadn't noticed Paul quietly slide into the seat next to her. Not until he draped an arm over her shoulders, and she jumped about a mile high.

"WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO!" she shrieked.

"Relax," he said, "I didn't mean to frighten you." Ginny's breathing slowed as she sat back down.

"What are you doing here?" she asked calmly.

"Same as you," he replied, "Getting away from ze crowd."

"I'm not trying to avoid everyone else, if that's what you mean," Ginny said.

"Well then, certainly you must be avoiding me?" Paul inquired.

"I'm not avoiding you!" Ginny jumped to her defense a little too quickly. Paul caught on immediately.

"You are. When you came in, you took one look at me and walked away. Please. Was it the rose? Was that too sudden? I just wanted you to be aware of 'ow I feel. You know, you stand out from ze other girls in zis school," Paul said. Ginny's face grew red.

"What makes me so special?" she asked.

"You are… I don't know. Different, in a way," said Paul. _Different,_ thought Ginny, _How? Why would he say that I'm different? Do I really stand out? _No_. It's because he knows who I am. Because he's Tom. He _is _Tom, because he does look like him. Because he sounds like him. He's Tom because he smiles like Tom. Because he smells like Tom. He's Tom because he sends shivers down my spine every time I see him, the same way that Tom did, 6 years ago._

Ginny smiled awkwardly at Paul. He shook his head.

"I am sorry," he said, "I'm bothering you, aren't I?" _Yes,_ Ginny wanted to say. But she couldn't. She just offered another smile and shook her head.

"You weren't bothering me," she said, then quickly added, "But… I do need to study, so…"

"I will 'elp you study, if you'd like," Paul offered.

"No thank you," Ginny said quickly, "That would be… unnecessary." Paul smiled.

"Then goodbye, Ginevra. _Until we meet again…_" he said, and then left the room. Ginny let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. _Until we meet again, you say? Tom Riddle, _she thought, _I hope you never have that pleasure._

_-_

**Well, there it is. Chapter 3. I hope you guys liked it. Please leave a review! I'd really like to know what you think of this so far, and what I can do to make it even better.**

**thanks always,**

**Mina**


	5. The Truth Comes Out

**Chapter IV: The Truth Comes Out **

Paul stopped bothering Ginny for the next week. She figured that he had gotten her 'hint' from their encounter in the library. But she was wrong. He had not stopped thinking about her; he was simply busy with problems of his own. And she, too, had been very busy. Her teachers were giving her lots of work to do, plus she had Head Girl duties, which were a lot harder than prefect duties. Stuart was really helpful, and often took some of Ginny's responsibilities off of her hands. _Gotta love those loyal Hufflepuffs_, she would say to herself. The newspaper was coming along well… without Ginny's help. Paul had become the supervisor, and Ginny had decided she didn't want to get involved.

Within that one week, Paul had become the most popular guy in Hogwarts. Everyone loved him, and he was friendly to everyone. Even the muggleborns, surprisingly. Ginny paid this fact no attention, however. Nothing would change her mind about Paul. She was convinced that he was the Dark Lord. She often came close to calling him Tom, or yelling at McGonagall for not recognizing who he really was. It bothered her the most that she was the only one who realized who he was. And then one day she did decide to confront McGonagall. This was because something had dawned on her that she hadn't realized before.

Paul's last name, Elddir, is Riddle spelled backwards.

When Ginny first realized this (and this occurred in the middle of Professor Blue's class, where Ginny sits behind Paul), she hit her head on the desk she'd been sitting at several times, causing everyone around her to stare. She then excused herself from class to go to the lavatory, where she proceeded to hit her head on the door to one of the stalls. When Moaning Myrtle started laughing at her, she ran out of the bathroom and straight to the headmistress' office, which had once been Dumbledore's office.

"Professor!" Ginny nearly deafened the older witch as she entered the room. Professor McGonagall rose from her seat.

"Miss Weasley, what is this all about?" she inquired.

"He's Tom Riddle," Ginny cried, "He's Voldemort!" McGonagall flinched at the forbidden name. Everyone still did, which Ginny found quite idiotic, seeing as he was now _supposedly_ dead.

"What on earth-? Who?"

"Paul," Ginny said.

"Paul Elddir? The new student?" Ginny nodded. "Ginevra, have you gone mad?"

"No! Can't you see, Professor? He looks exactly like Tom Riddle!" Ginny argued.

"Miss Weasley, I think you need to see Madam Pomfrey. That nice boy, Paul, looks absolutely nothing like Tom Riddle. I would know, I've seen You-Know-Who when he was your age," McGonagall said.

"But he looks exactly like him! Except for his eyes, but… Oh, Professor! Can't you see it? You have to do something…" Ginny pleaded. McGonagall sighed.

"You're not feeling well. That's all. I want you to go to the hospital wing," she said.

"Professor! I can prove it, though! His last name is Riddle, spelled backwards," Ginny said confidently.

"A common coincidence," said McGonagall.

"Common? Professor, I'm starting to believe that you're the one who's gone mad," Ginny said.

"Ginny, listen to me. Even if Paul looked like Tom Riddle, which he doesn't, then how do you explain it? Harry Potter killed You-Know-Who," McGonagall said.

"I don't know how to explain it," Ginny said, "but it's true."

"Really. Then what about the French accent?"

"He's faking it, of course," Ginny said. "That's easy."

"Alright then, we'll see. Ginny, I want you to meet me here after classes, okay? And tell Mr. Elddir to come with you." Ginny looked at the headmistress in disbelief.

"What?"

"I want to speak to the both of you. I have a feeling your sudden accusations may have to do with a dispute you two have against each other, or something of the sort. I can't have my Gryffindors having a row with each other." She still referred to them as 'her' Gryffindors, even after she'd given up the title of Gryffindor's house leader.

Ginny sighed. "Yes, Professor," she said politely, before getting up to leave.

"Oh, and Miss Weasley," McGonagall added before Ginny left, "I know this year is hard on you. You've got a lot of studying to do, what with N.E.W.T.s at the end of the year, and you're the Head Girl. I know you can do it, though. You're a strong girl."

"Thanks," Ginny said sincerely.

-

Ginny talked to Paul after she had gone back to class, and told him to go to McGonagall's office after classes. He just nodded, without even asking her why.

After classes, Ginny hesitantly made her way back to McGonagall's office. She had dreaded this moment since McGonagall had told her about it. Now, she had to tell Paul that she knew who he really was. There was no telling what Paul might do.

Ginny shivered. She could just imagine the look on Paul's– on Tom's –face. He would be grinning maliciously, looking straight into her eyes, into her soul. He would tell her that he'd been anticipating this moment, before his fingers would close around her throat, and her lungs would be deprived of any air. Her life as she knew it would end. Tom would win. Hadn't he once told her that he would? Yes, she remembered it so clearly.

"_Tom",_ she'd asked him while in the chamber, "_why are you doing this to me?"_

"_But it's not me who's doing it, Ginevra. It's you,"_ he'd replied.

_"Why?" _

_"Because you love me, Ginevra."_

_"I do?" _

_"Yes. You love me with all your life. That is why I have to take it from you."_

_"But it's my life, Tom. Not yours."_

_"Not anymore. Now your life belongs to me. You gave it to me freely, Ginevra. You sold me your soul. It's the least you could do."_

_"Tom… I'm scared. I don't want to lose my life." _

_"It's okay. You're doing this to help someone. To help me. Because of you, Ginevra, I will finally win."_

_"Win what?"_

He'd never answered her question. For at that moment, He began sucking the life out of her. Well, until the Boy-Who-Lived came to her rescue.

_Harry,_ Ginny thought. She hadn't thought about Harry in all of this. Harry would believe her, wouldn't he? If only there were some way to contact him… She could have sent him an owl, if she'd known where he lived. But she didn't have a clue. According to Ron, he was always on the move. The last time Ginny'd even had the chance to speak with him was on the very day that he'd defeated Lord Voldemort.

"_Harry," _she'd said to him, _"It's so good to see you again!"_ It had been exactly one year since Dumbledore's death, and they were both attending a memorial service.

"_You too," _he'd said with a smile. She remembered that he hadn't had that glow in his eyes that he usually would get whenever he saw her. It disappointed her.

"_Harry, I… I'm worried about you," _she'd said. _"I heard that Voldemort's searching for you. Every day I cry just thinking that at any moment, he may find and kill you."_

"_Ginny,"_ he'd said, cupping her face in his hands, _"Don't cry for me. I'll be fine."_ And then, just when she could've sworn he was going to kiss her, he let go of her, and walked away. She couldn't comprehend his actions on that day. She never would. The boy she knew was gone forever.

"Ginevra." Ginny broke out of her trance-like state. She realized that she was standing in front of McGonagall's office. Paul had just gotten there.

"Um… hi," Ginny said nervously. She still didn't move. Paul reached out towards her and she flinched, then realized that he was only reaching for the doorknob. He pulled open the door to the office and allowed Ginny to go in ahead of him. Then he went inside, closing the door behind him.

McGonagall was sitting at her desk with her hands folded neatly on top of it. She motioned for her the two students to take a seat, and they did.

"Now. I want one of you to tell me what is going on between the both of you," she said. Paul glanced confusedly at Ginny. She turned red.

"Professor, I don't have a problem with Paul, believe me," Ginny said quickly, denying all truth. If she could convince McGonagall of this, then Paul didn't have to know a thing.

"That's not what you said to me earlier," McGonagall said.

"Well, I lied," Ginny said. She started to stand up. "Now I have to go. I have a _ton_ of homework to do…"

"Sit down, Miss Weasley!" McGonagall ordered. Ginny immediately sat back down.

"Tell Mr. Elddir what you told me, since he seems to have no clue as to what's going on," McGonagall said. Ginny took a deep breath. _You can do this, Ginny, _she told herself.

"Okay," she said, turning to Paul, "I said earlier that I… that I thought you looked like somebody I know."

"That is all?" Paul asked. Ginny chanced a glance at McGonagall. The headmistress shook her head.

"No," Ginny said, "that's not all." This time Ginny took a deep breath and went for the plunge. "I told her that you were Tom Riddle." Paul's eyes widened for a second, but only Ginny noticed this.

"And 'oo is zis Tom Riddle?" he asked. McGonagall stepped in at this point.

"Tom Riddle is the birth name of Lord Voldemort," she said, flinching still.

"And why would you say something like zat?" Paul said, turning to face Ginny. This time she could feel his heated glare, drilling into her. She squirmed in her seat.

"B-because you look like him," Ginny replied uneasily.

"I 'ave seen pictures of ze Dark Lord. 'e is very ugly. If you are trying to insult me, Ginevra, zen you are doing a terrible job of it," Paul said. With that, he got up and left the room, without McGonagall's permission. She didn't stop him. Ginny looked at McGonagall.

"Well," the headmistress said, "I must applaud you, Ginny. You're really good at making up ridiculous stories."

"You're right," said Ginny, "It is ridiculous. But I did _not_ make it up, Professor." Then Ginny got up and left without saying another word.

The second Ginny closed the door to McGonagall's office, Paul came out from behind a corner. Ginny shrieked, but he placed a hand over her mouth to silence her.

"Don't scream. Don't even say anything," he said, this time without his usual French accent. Ginny bit his hand. He cursed loudly and grasped his hand, while Ginny began to run. But before she was out of sight, Paul had his wand out. He stunned her. She fell to the ground. He ran over towards her and put a silencing spell and a binding spell on her. She was unable to speak, and unable to move her arms and legs, so he levitated her. Then he brought her into an empty classroom.

Paul set Ginny's bound body onto the floor, and he stood in front of her, towering over her. She could do nothing but watch and wait, unsure of what he was about to do. He opened his mouth to speak.

"Listen, Ginevra. I'm not going to hurt you, okay? I just want to ask you a few questions. Do you promise to cooperate?" he asked. Ginny nodded. "Good," he said. He took off the silencing spell.

"Now," he said, "tell me: how do you know what Tom Riddle looks like?"

"I saw a picture of him," Ginny lied.

"Oh? Do so many people know about him, then?" he asked. Ginny shook his head.

"Only a few," she said. Quickly, she thought up another lie. "I… I know about him because I'm a friend of Harry Potter's."

"I see. Tell me all you know about Tom Riddle, and the Dark Lord Voldemort," Paul then said.

"Wait. I promise I'll tell you everything I know, but first, you have to tell me: Who are you?" Paul chuckled.

"It's only fair, I suppose. I'm going to have to tell you sooner or later, anyway. Well then, I'll tell you. I am Lord Voldemort's clone."

-

**Review.**


	6. The Heart of the Poet

**Chapter V: The heart of the poet**

Paul chuckled. "It's only fair, I suppose. I'm going to have to tell you sooner or later, anyway. Well then, I'll tell you. I am Lord Voldemort's clone."

-

Ginny stood, aghast at what she had just heard. "H-his clone?" she managed to speak. Paul nodded at her. He was completely serious.

"When-? How-? Why?" she asked. Paul sighed. He took off the binding spell and Ginny immediately got up.

"You'd better have a seat, Ginevra," Paul said, "I'll tell you my story." Ginny sat down at one of the desks obediently. Paul then cleared his throat.

"Well," he said, "Lord Voldemort, before he died, had learned of a ritual in which one can clone themselves. He then got the idea of making hundreds of clones of himself, thus creating an army of Voldemorts. So he and a few of his most trusted death eaters performed this ritual."

"Which death eaters?" Ginny interrupted.

"One of them was Lucius Malfoy. Another one was Paul Zabini, which is where I took my first name from," Paul explained. "Now, they performed this ritual. Another one of the death eaters was in charge of making a potion that was essential for creating me. His name was Severus Snape. I assume you already know who he is? Well, anyway, he did something wrong. He was supposed to be a master at potions, and I have a feeling that he screwed up on purpose. Voldemort didn't think he was loyal to him, anyway. Well, when Voldemort took the potion, I was created in the place of a full-grown, disfigured-looking Lord Voldemort. Since this wasn't what Voldemort wanted, he gave up on the idea of making clones and kept me around for another purpose…" Paul paused for a second, as if he were trying to remember something he had forgotten.

"What purpose?" Ginny asked. Paul blinked at Ginny.

"I don't know," he said truthfully. "Whatever it was, it involved another ritual. I had to stand in a circle all night next to Voldemort while his death eaters performed the ritual. I don't know what it did."

"Paul, tell me you're joking," Ginny said. He shook his head.

"I'm serious," he said. Ginny stood up.

"You mean to tell me you were involved in some weird ritual with Lord Voldemort, and you have absolutely no idea what it did?" she asked.

"That about sums it up," Paul said.

"We need find out!"

"Calm down," Paul said. "I told you everything I know. Now it's your turn. I want to find out more about the man who created me… about Voldemort. That's why I came to Hogwarts after he died…"

"Then read a biography of the man," Ginny said, "because I'm not gonna tell you right now. Right now, we need to find out what that ritual was for."

"Why should it matter? Voldemort's dead," Paul replied.

"That's what I'm scared about," said Ginny. "What if… what if he was trying to find some way to resurrect himself again?" Paul looked confused.

"What do you mean by 'again'?" he asked.

"You really don't know anything about Voldemort, do you?" Ginny asked. Paul shook his head.

"Only a little bit," he said.

"What about Harry Potter?" Paul shook his head again.

"All I know about him is that he was the man who killed Voldemort."

Ginny took a deep breath and began to tell Paul everything she knew about Voldemort, tying in how Harry became the 'boy-who-lived', how Voldemort was resurrected, and how Harry faced Voldemort as a teenager many times before finally defeating him. She purposely left out the part that took place in her first year, with her and the diary and Tom.

"So…" Paul said when Ginny was finished, "Is that it then? Harry Potter doesn't sound so impressive anymore..."

"What are you talking about?" Ginny asked. Paul sighed.

"I don't know. It just seems to me that the only way he defeated Voldemort was because of some prophecy. That and the fact that Voldemort made a few little mistakes here and there. Other than that, the man was invincible; immortal. Nobody could touch him. Harry was just lucky."

"I… I never really looked at it that way before. I always thought Harry was so brave. But he was no braver than I; he was just doing what was expected of him. Everybody knew it was up to him to kill Voldemort," Ginny said. Paul nodded.

"So… about this ritual…" he began.

"Oh yes!" Ginny exclaimed, "I almost forgot. We have to find somebody who can tell us about it. Anybody who was there…."

"The only ones who knew about it were Snape, Malfoy and Zabini," Paul explained. Ginny frowned.

"Malfoy and Zabini are in Azkaban, and Snape's still missing," she said.

"Damn. Too bad," Paul said.

"Wait. Are you sure there was no one else?" Ginny asked desperately.

"I told you; no. Not unless…"

"What?"

"One of the deatheaters who were there could have easily told somebody. They were sworn to secrecy, but… it's a possibility," Paul suggested.

"That's a good point," Ginny observed.

"Who could they have told?"

"Let's see… Snape: nobody. Zabini: hell if I know. Malfoy: …" One name came through Ginny's mind as she spoke Malfoy's name, but she dared not say it aloud. _Draco._

"What?" Paul asked.

"I… I just remembered something… look, we'll talk about this later, okay? We needn't worry about this right now. Besides, I need time to think things over," Ginny said.

"What things?" Paul asked.

"None of your business," Ginny said sharply. She walked towards the entrance of the classroom. Before she left, she turned and said, "Oh, and we'd best let McGonagall think we're on good terms."

"Why, aren't we on good terms?" Paul asked. Ginny just smiled and left Paul standing there.

Ginny headed for the Head Girl's dormitory and passed Stuart on the way. She waved to him, but he stopped in his tracks.

"Ginny, I need to ask you a favor," he said.

"Oh. Okay," she said, "Name it."

"It seems that someone's been sneaking around at night, and the prefects haven't been able to catch the culprit. So, I was thinking maybe you could help me keep watch tonight?" he suggested. Ginny smiled.

"Sure, that'll be fine," she said.

"Great. Meet you here at 8, then." He walked on, and Ginny returned to her room.

Now alone and feeling secure, Ginny plopped down on her bed and grabbed a small black book from under her pillow. On the cover was the word "My." It had once said "My Diary," but Ginny hated the idea of a diary ever since a certain incident in her first year. So instead of keeping a normal diary, she wrote poems to express her feelings and thoughts each day. Ginny had always loved poetry, and had just recently begun to write poems of her own.

On a fresh page, Ginny began to scribble down some words. She crossed some things out here and there, and eventually took a good look at her finished piece. It read:

_**Friday, September 14, 1997** _

_Regret pours through my heart, and something more._

_But why do I feel all this sudden shame?_

_I assumed you were who you are not._

_And so I must confess I am to blame_

_And when you asked for knowledge, I complied_

_What you asked of me left me beguiled_

_Not for selfish reasons did you ask,_

_But for curiosity, like a newborn child._

_And now I yearn to help you even more,_

_Almost as if to prove something a lie._

_That, perhaps, you are nothing like He,_

_Who once filled me with fear and made me cry._

_He, who once stole away my heart,_

_He, to whom I willingly gave my soul._

_He, who I once held in such reverence,_

_He, who I once used to extol._

_I pray you will not ever be like him,_

_And if you will, then I have failed again._

_So help me to stop Him once and for good,_

_And please stay by my side until then._

Ginny blinked a few times as she read the last verse, just to make sure she had really written it. The words 'please stay by my side' stuck out the most. Ginny contemplated crossing the line out and writing something else in its place, but there were already so many crossouts already on that page. So she just left it.

But did she want Paul to stay by her side? Ginny thought about this for a moment. Well, he was willing to help her find out more about that ritual, to see whether or not the Dark Lord had made plans to resurrect himself again. It would be nice to have him around, seeing as he was so kind, so different from Tom…

Ginny shut the book and replaced it underneath her pillow. She realized at that point that it was time for dinner, so she got up and quickly fixed her hair before heading down to the Great Hall.

-

Ginny sat down at the Gryffindor table next to Colin and his younger brother Dennis. Luna came and joined them a minute later. They had a decent converation about some endangered magical species, which Luna of course had brought up. Then Paul joined them. Ginny scooted over to let him sit down, but otherwise refused to ackonwledge him.

The conversation turned to the Hogwarts School Paper. Ginny kept quiet and ate her food, while Colin, Luna, Paul, and Dennis decided what they should name the paper.

"I like "The Juicy Hog,'" Luna suggested. Dennis giggled and Colin raised an eyebrow.

"Why the Juicy Hog?" Paul asked.

"Well, Hog is for Hogwarts, of course, and Juicy is for when you hear a bit of gossip that's juicy," Luna explained. Colin's expression remained. Dennis spoke up.

"No one's gonna want to read something called the Juicy Hog, Lu," he said, still chuckling silently.

"I like it," Paul disagreed. Dennis looked shocked.

"Really, Paul?"

"Yeah."

"Well," said Dennis, "I suppose it's not so bad of an idea."

"Yeah," said Colin, "It's very clever. People like that." Luna grinned. Ginny shook her head and stood up.

"I'm going to go," she said. "I'm not hungry anymore."

"Gin, wait," said Colin. Ginny sat back down and looked at him.

"Yes?"

"Why are you avoiding us whenever we talk about the Paper?" he asked. Ginny shook her head.

"I'm not. I just don't want to be a bother…"

"You're not a bother. I thought you wanted to help out," Colin said.

"By handing over my job of supervisor to him?" she said, pointing an accusing finger at Paul. Paul blinked.

"What's going on…?" he asked.

"Oh crap," said Colin, "Ginny I forgot. It's just that… Paul was so experienced and everything…" This made Ginny even madder than before, because now she knew that Paul never really had any experience before. He lied about everything. And Ginny couldn't tell Colin, or anyone else, the truth about Paul. She just had to go along with the lie now.

Ginny left the Great Hall and walked down the hallway very slowly, taking everything in. She hadn't realized that just because she knew now that Paul wasn't really Tom Riddle didn't mean things wouldactually change between them. She still hated Paul. She thought back to what she had said to him earlier.

_"We'd best let McGonagall think we're on good terms."_

_"Why, aren't we on good terms?"_

_"…"_

At the time, she was just playing around with him. But now she began to wonder. Could they truly become friends, or was Paul her rival? He had stolen much deserved attention away from Ginny. He was supervisor of the school paper, friends with her best friends, and every girl in the school had a crush on him. She couldn't see why all those girls would like him so much, or what her friends saw in him that they didn't see in her. She just knew that he was competition. Of course, she didn't have to worry. She was Ginny Weasley, Head Girl. Lots of guys at Hogwarts liked her. She had all the attention she needed, right?

Wrong. She wanted something a little more than attention from her fellow students. She wanted attention from Paul.

"Ginny!" Ginny spun around to see Paul running towards her. For a second, she was briefly reminded of the first time she had kissed Harry. The way Paul ran to her now was the same way Harry had run to her, before he flung his arms around her and kissed her. Paul didn't fling his arms around Ginny or kiss her. He slowed down and stopped in front of her.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"No," she said.

"Look, I'm sorry about taking your position. I didn't know. It was Colin's fault," he said. Ginny sighed.

"I know."

"So why are you still avoiding me? I thought we could, you know, be friends now?"

"Why do you want to be my friend, Paul?"

"Because I like you. And… you know my secret now. I fell like I can just be myself in front of you. No fake accent, no lying about my past," he explained.

"I wish you hadn't said that, because I feel the same way. I like you too. As a friend, of course. I guess I realize now that everything you've ever said or done was just an act. And what everyone sees when they look at you isn't real, but they believe it anyway, because they'll believe anything you tell them. They adore you," Ginny said.

"Oh, I see. You're jealous, aren't you?" Paul said. Ginny turned bright red, and Paul laughed.

"It's okay. I understand. But I can't help it. I don't know why they like me so much," he said.

"It was the same way when Tom was in school," Ginny said.

"Really? How do you know?"

"Um… I heard someone talking about it," Ginny quickly lied.

"Oh. Well, can we be friends then?" Paul asked.

"Sure," Ginny said tentatively.

"Good." A few 5th year girls walked by, looked at Paul admiringly, and giggled to themselves. Paul shook his head. Ginny laughed.

"I almost feel sorry for you now," she said.

-

At precisely 8 'o clock, Ginny met Stuart Kent in the hallway between the Head Girl and Head Boy's dormitories. 8 pm was the curfew for all students, with the exception of prefects. Anyone roaming around the hallways past that time would be given a detention or worse, depending on the circumstances.

Ginny and Stuart patrolled the hallways together for the first two hours, then they split up. It was around 11:00 when Ginny heard the noise across the hall from her. She took out her wand and muttered the spell, 'lumos.'

Ginny's wand lit up so that she could see as far as a few yards ahead of her. She walked to the side of the hallway where she had heard the noise. There was a storage room with it's door half open. She was sure that it had been closed before, and she was certain that the noise she had heard sounded like a door opening.

Ginny very slowly pushed the door all the way open. She peered inside. There was nobody in there, but she was surprised at what she did see. It seemed that everything that used to be in Professor Dumbledore's office was not thrown away, but simply moved into this room when McGonagall took over. Ginny suddenly heard another noise, and she froze to the spot. The noise had come from behind Dumbledore's old desk.

"Who's in here?" she half-whispered. A male's voice responded.

"A ghost."

Ginny held her breath as she watched a figure in black remove his invisibility cloak.

* * *

**Another cliffhanger! Mwahahahaha! Sorry, but I couldn't help it. I HAD to end it there. Well, it leaves you guessing, doesn't it? Please review!**


	7. Owls for Breakfast

**A/N: I am deeply sorry for not updating sooner, but I have been VERY, VERY busy with school. I am a junior in hs, and junior year is supposedly the hardest year. Also, my computer crashed at one point when I actually wasn't too busy to write. Just my luck, huh? Well, here's chapter 6. I hope you enjoy it. I can't promise a quick update for 7, but I WILL try.

* * *

**

**Chapter VI: Owls for Breakfast**

"_Who's in here?" she half-whispered. A male's voice responded._

"_A ghost."_

_Ginny held her breath as she watched a figure in black remove his invisibility cloak._

-

Ginny let out a sigh of relief in recognition.

"Paul," she said quietly, "you scared me. What are you doing here?" Paul smirked.

"I could ask you the same thing," he responded as he neatly folded the invisibility cloak over his left arm.

"I'm Head Girl," Ginny said proudly, "I'm allowed to be here. ...Where'd you get an invisibility cloak?"

"I bought it, just incase I needed it," he replied casually.

"Needed it for what? Paul, are you the one who's been sneaking around here after hours?" Paul nodded. "Why?"

"I was looking for information," he said, then added, "about Voldemort." Ginny sighed.

"You're obsessed," she said.

"No, I'm not."

"Yeah, you are. And you know what? You've just won yourself a detention for being here after curfew," she said.

"Oh, come on," Paul protested.

"I'm sorry," Ginny said, although she wasn't.

"I found this room last night," Paul said, trying to change the subject, "Look at this." He bent over and picked up a large stone basin full of a substance that looked like liquid smoke.

"I was hoping," he continued after setting the basin down on Dumbledore's desk, "that you could tell me what this is."

Ginny looked into the basin, holding her wand over it for light. There were images moving inside of it that she couldn't quite make out.

"I think I've seen one of these before," she said after a while. "It's a pensieve."

"What does it do?" Paul asked.

"I'm not exactly sure how it works, but it's supposed to hold memories, help you to recall things more clearly and such," she explained. She looked back into the pensieve, this time able to decipher a room, or an office of some sort.

"Can you see anything?" Paul asked, looking over her shoulder.

"Yes." She didn't say anything more; she just watched intently to see what would happen. There was somebody sitting in a chair at a desk. She couldn't tell who it was, though. She leaned closer to see.

Suddenly, Ginny felt as if she had been pushed forward (and for a moment she believed Paul had actually been the one to push her), until she realized she was actually being sucked into the pensieve itself. She was standing in the same office, right in front of the man at the desk, who looked awfully familiar.

"Slughorn," she said when she realized who the man was. Professor Slughorn neither heard nor saw her. He was consumed with a box of crystallized pineapples at the moment; or rather, it was he who was doing the consuming.

Ginny felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around.

"Paul... how did we get here?" she asked. He shrugged.

"I saw you get pulled in, so I just followed you. Where are we?"

"Slughorn's office. Only... he looks a lot younger, so I suppose we've gone quite a few years into the past," she said.

"Who's Slughorn?" Paul queried.

"He was the potions teacher here last year, and a long time ago," Ginny explained.

"Is this his memory, then?" Paul asked. Ginny said nothing, for at that moment, the door opened, and in stepped a few Slytherin students, one of whom was Tom Riddle.

Ginny held her hand to her mouth. Tom was staring directly at her. _No, not _at_ me, _she realized, _through me._ Tom was looking past her, at Slughorn.

"Th-that's me," Paul said.

"It's Tom," Ginny corrected him.

"I know, I meant... he looks just like me."

"No," Ginny said, "you look just like him."

Tom and his Slytherin comrades took seats in front of Slughorn's desk. Ginny and Paul watched as Slughorn offered his students some pineapple. They all declined.

The entire scene played out for Paul and Ginny. A scene which, unknown to them, had been once witnessed by Harry Potter nearly two years earlier. When the students got up and left, Tom lingered behind.

"Professor," he said tentatively, "do you mind if I ask you a question?" Ginny and Paul both leaned in to hear better as Tom quietly made his inquiry.

Slughorn turned pale, but he answered nonetheless. **(a/n: i'm not going to put what he said, because I don't have the book, and I don't want to go entirely against canon and not write it out word for word.)**

"Let's go," Ginny said to Paul once Slughorn had finished his speech. He nodded.

They returned to the storage room, where Paul carefully replaced the pensieve. He then turned to Ginny.

"I want to find out more about horcruxes," he said.

"Why?"

"I think they may have something to do with that ritual. I don't know," he said. Ginny considered this for a moment.

"There might be something about that in the library. In the restricted area," she said.

"Good. We'll go there tomorrow, after classes." Ginny nodded.

"Okay."

"Goodnight, then," Paul said, unfolding his invisibility cloak.

'You still have detention," Ginny reminded him.

"Damn," was all he said. Then he left.

Ginny turned to the door, but stopped as something on the wall caught her eyes. It was definitely something that hadn't been in Dumbledore's old office.

It was a painting. Well, four paintings, actually. The first was of a woman with curly blond hair, wearing a yellow and black dress. The second was of a handsome looking man with reddish brown hair wearing a red and golden outfit. The third painting was of a pretty woman with long brown hair dressed in an elegant dark blue and bronze gown. The last painting was of handsome man, whose face had something suave and debonair about it, with long black hair and a silver and green outfit. They were all asleep. _And I'd better not wake them,_ Ginny thought. She left the room and walked through the halls until she found Kent to tell him that the culprit had been caught and they could go to bed. It wasn't until Ginny was in bed that she realized those painting she saw were of the four founders of Hogwarts. After that, she fell fast asleep.

-

Ginny woke up late that morning- she had gone to sleep in the Head Girl's dormitory instead of in the Gryffindor dorms. She preferred sleeping in the latter so that her roommate would wake her up on time, but she was so tired last night that she forgot.

The clock next to Ginny's bed read 7:20. She was late for breakfast. Groaning, she rolled out of bed, took a quick shower and got dressed, threw her long hair up in a sloppy bun, and headed down to the Great Hall.

Breakfast was over, but most of the students were sitting around, talking, and waiting for the morning owls. Ginny's stomach grumbled. She sat down at the Gryffindor table next to Luna, Colin, Dennis, and, much to her disappointment, Paul. She folded her arms on the table and laid her head down on top of them.

"What happened to you?" Colin asked.

"Not enough sleep... woke up late..." she muttered.

"You missed breakfast," Luna pointed out.

"Yes, I know," Ginny said, annoyed.

"Don't worry," Paul spoke up, "eet was not any'zing special."

"Yeah," Dennis joined in, "Just pumpkin juice and pancakes." Ginny looked up.

"Were there chocolate chip pancakes?" she asked.

"Yeah." Ginny groaned as her stomach grumbled again.

"I need breakfast," she said, "or else I'll be in a bad mood all day."

"Uh-oh," Luna said, "not good. She's going to go mad on us if she doesn't eat soon. She may even try eating one of us."

"It had better not be me," Paul chuckled.

"Knowing Ginny," Colin said, "it will most likely be you, Paul. I don't think she's too fond of you." Ginny frowned.

"Shut up, Creevey. I'm not going to resort to cannibalism," she glowered.

"Then you can have owls for breakfast," Luna laughed, pointing at the incoming owls carrying everybody's letters from home and_ Daily Prophet_s. One of them stopped in front of Luna. She untied the letter from its leg and studied it.

"It's from Anthony!" she said after a moment.

"Open it," Ginny suggested. She did.

"He's coming to visit me," she said excitedly, "this weekend at Hogsmeade.

"Really? That's great!" Ginny said.

"I almost forgot we had a Hogsmeade weekend coming up," Colin said.

"Me too," Dennis added.

Suddenly a snowy white owl flew right towards Ginny, carrying a simple white envelope. Ginny was too surprised that she even _had_ any mail to recognize the owl right away. When she did recognize it, she gasped.

"Hedwig!" she exclaimed.

"Oh my gosh!" Luna said.

"What is it?" Paul inquired.

"That's Harry Potter's owl," Dennis explained.

"Is that so?" he said with a look of extreme interest.

"Well," Luna said, "open it!"

Ginny nodded and carefully opened the envelope, unfolded the letter, and read:

_'Dear Ginny,_

_I am writing to you to let you know that this weekend I will be visiting Hogsmeade. I would like to meet you there at the Three Broomsticks on Saturday at noon. _

_Sincerely,_

_H. Potter'_

"H-he's coming to Hogsmeade this Saturday," Ginny said.

"Really? That's awesome," Luna said.

"I know," was all Ginny could say. She herself wasn't sure what to think of it. Was she supposed to be happy, or upset? After all, Harry had broken his promise to come back to her after Voldemort was dead. But he _was_ coming back now. _I should be happy, right?_ Ginny thought, _but why don't I feel happy?_

-

At 8 o' clock, classes began, and Ginny went to the dungeons first for Potions. Professor Gray, who was old and hard of hearing, kept his back to the class the entire time while writing notes on the blackboard. He then proceeded to sit down at his desk and read the _Daily Prophet_ as the class started to mix their potions.

At the beginning of the year Ginny had, much to her distaste, been partnered with Paul for the rest of the year. Paul surprised Ginny with his skill at making potions. He had said it was the Tom Riddle DNA in him (since Tom was a very good student), which just irked Ginny even more. Nonetheless, she let Paul do all of the work, since he insisted upon it.

"Done," Paul said after the first 15 minutes of class. Ginny looked at him in amazement.

"Already?" she said.

"Yeah, all we have to do is let it sit for the rest of the class. I sort of rushed through because I knew you were hungry, and I thought you might like to sneak to the kitchens and grab a bite to eat," he said.

"You already ate, though," she pointed out.

"I know, but you didn't. And I don't mind. Professor Gray's not looking; we can go now," he said.

"I don't know..."

Paul nudged her a little. "Come on, Ginny, don't tell me you've never broken a rule before," he said with a wide grin on his face. She rolled her eyes.

"Of course I have," she said.

"Then what are you waiting for? I know you're starved," he said, still grinning. Ginny's stomach growled again.

"Ugh, fine. Let's just go." They both made their way towards the door quietly, and stepped out into the hall without anyone noticing or minding.

When they got to the kitchens, Paul tickled the pair in the portrait, which swung open and let them inside. They were greeted by a house elf named Pixie, who gladly whipped up an apple pie for Ginny (who had had a sudden craving for apples). She ate hastily, finishing most of it before it was time to go back to class. On their way back, Ginny apologized to Paul for forgetting her manners and thanked him.

"By the way," she said, "how did you know how to get in to the kitchens?"

"One of the Gryffindors told me," he responded. Ginny nodded. Then she thought of something else. It was something she had been pondering over for quite a while but always forgot to ask.

"How come none of the teachers recognize you as Tom Riddle?"

"There was a spell," he replied, "that Snape told me about. I put a spell on all of the faculty, so that they wouldn't recognize me. That's why I wasn't expecting a student like you to recognize me."

"Oh."

They walked in silence for a little while longer, until they reached the dungeons. Ginny turned to him with another question before they went inside.

"Why are your eyes black?" she asked. Paul thought about this for a moment.

"I don't know," he said. "A defect in the potion, maybe." Ginny nodded in comprehension. Paul opened the door quietly and they both went in unnoticed, just before Professor Gray put down his newspaper and went around the room to check everybody's potion.

-

After classes, Ginny decided to visit her friends in the common room. Colin, Dennis, and Paul were sitting down, talking to Romilda Vane. She slowly walked up to them with a bemused look on her face. Colin greeted her with a grin and explained that Romilda was to be the school paper's new gossip columnist. _Just what this school needs, _Ginny thought to herself.

Paul was talking to Romilda, who was obviously flirting with him while twirling her hair around her finger. Ginny rolled her eyes at this and sat down, engaging in conversation with Colin and Dennis. She tried her best not to pay any mind to Romilda and Paul, but it was no use. She got up, annoyed, and left the room, heading straight for the Head Girl's quarters. There, she wrote another poem in her journal expressing some typical teen angst about how a certain somebody she knew kept getting a lot of attention while she _supposedly_ got none, and how she was sick and tired of it since she had had to deal with it all of her life after growing up with 6 older brothers.

Somebody knocked lightly on her door. She shut her journal, shoved it under her pillow, got up and opened the door. It was the Head Boy.

"Hey, Kent," she said, "what's up?"

"Oh, Paul just stopped by to see you. I told him it was best not to bother you; you seemed a little upset when you came in before," he said.

"I did?" Stuart nodded. "Oh."

"You know, Ginny, he always asks about you," Stuart said.

"Really?" She was surprised at this, not at all expecting something like that from Paul.

"Yeah," Stuart said, "all the time."

"Huh. That's interesting. Well, is that all, then?" she asked.

"Oh, right. We have a prefect's meeting tomorrow after classes. I hope you can make it?" he said.

"Yes, I think I can. I shouldn't be busy. Where are we meeting?"

"Library," he said.

Ginny thanked him, and he left. She then returned to her journal, but after thinking for a while about what to add to her poem, she realized she couldn't come up with anything good. So she put the book away and grabbed her Astronomy text book, from which she read chapter 3. But all she could think about was Paul.

_He asks people about me... but why? What's so fascinating about me? Why does he like me? Why am I thinking about him... Okay, Ginevra, concentrate! You have to read now..._

-

At dinner that evening, Ginny sat down next to Luna, Colin, Dennis, and Paul. She was in a much better mood than before, and she didn't even mind the fact that Romilda Vane and one of her friends were sitting with them. Well, okay, she actually did mind, but she stayed calm about it.

Romilda was flirting again with Paul, who kept talking to her, completely oblivious. Ginny shook her head. _He's not interested in you, Romilda, _she thought. She turned to Luna.

"What day is it today, Lu?"

"Uh, Wednesday, I think," Luna replied.

"Thanks."

Ginny looked back at Paul and Romilda, shook her head again, and turned to her food. She suddenly lost her appetite.

"Are you going to eat those?" Dennis asked, pointing to Ginny's plate of chips. He didn't even wait for an answer as he grabbed her plate and shoveled its contents onto his own plate.

"Pig," Ginny mumbled. Then she laughed to herself. Dennis Creevey didn't have much manners when it came to food; otherwise, he was a complete gentleman. Perhaps he would be single forever. Colin was the other way around. He had manners when it came to food, only. He could be a complete prat sometimes, not thinking about others. But he did think about others sometimes. He was a good friend, after all.

Ginny's train of thought was suddenly interrupted by a loud, annoying burst of laughter coming from Romilda. She groaned.

"Oh my, Paul, you are _such_ a laugh!" Romilda said. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Iz zat so?" Paul said. Ginny groaned and got up, leaving the room. Paul noticed this and said to Romilda, "I'll be right back." He got up and followed Ginny out of the room, stopping her in the hallway.

"Ginny," he said. She turned around.

"What?" she spat angrily.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"You... You're always the center of attention, aren't you?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked innocently.

"Don't play dumb, Paul! Romilda was flirting with you and you just played along! I know you're not interested in her, so stop doing that! Stop doing whatever it is you're doing to make everybody like you!"

"What am I supposed to do? I didn't do anything to make them like me; you know that!" he said.

"I know, but... I'm sick and tired of it. What's so special about you? Everything they see in you is fake, including your crappy French accent," she said.

"Is my accent really that bad?" he asked.

"That's not the point! I just... Oh, I don't know what's wrong with me," she said, "I'm sorry for yelling at you."

"It's okay," he said. He moved closer to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Like you said, there's nothing special about me. I'm just fake, right? I don't have any feelings whatsoever."

"Paul, stop it! You know I didn't mean that," she said. Paul chuckled.

"Good," he said, "Oh, and if you want, I'll try to ignore Romilda. She kind of scares me, anyway."

"Good," Ginny said.

They walked back to the Gryffindor common room together, Ginny feeling better about the situation, if not a little stupid for starting it in the first place.

* * *

**Sorry I couldn't think of a good way to end the chapter. Well, that's over for now. Don't forget to review, peoples!**

**Until next time,**

**Fullmoon-insanity**


	8. Checkmate

**a/n: I haven't updated in two months, but school's been hectic. So don't even say anything. Bleh. Now that it's summer, I should be able to update at least once a month. I'm sorry if that's not enough, but even my summer is going to be busy. Anyways, please enjoy this lovely and long-awaited update. .**

**Chapter VII: Checkmate**

Ginny entered the common room with Paul. Nobody was there yet, as dinner was still going on, so it was just the two of them. An inviting dark red sofa beckoned to Ginny from the other side of the room, and she went over to it and took a seat. Paul followed suit.

"So," he said after a minute.

"So," she repeated almost mechanically.

"I've been thinking about last night… I really think this horcrux thing is the key, Ginny," he said. She looked at him.

"Oh? Wait… weren't we supposed to go to the library?" she asked. He shook his head.

"I took the opportunity to do that this morning. I can't get in to the restricted section without good reason. I don't know what to do," he said. Ginny sighed and leant her head back on the plush cushion.

"I'm sure we'll figure something out," he continued, "right?" Ginny shrugged.

"I don't know," she said. "I don't even know what we're looking for anymore. It's like chasing a ghost. Only, Voldemort's ghost."

"So what do we do about it?" he asked.

"We… relax. For now. Maybe… maybe something will come up. For now, I don't want to worry about this," she said. Truth be told, Ginny's mind was on other things at the moment. Things like Harry's visit this coming weekend, and what she should wear, or say to him, or do, or whether or not she was even happy that he was coming to see her.

"Okay," Paul said, "maybe I should get my mind off of things. …How about a game of chess?" Ginny looked over at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Chess?"

"Yeah. Something wrong with that?" he asked. She shook her head.

"It's just, I didn't know you played chess. And… I haven't played in a while. The last time I played was probably sometime last year with Ron. I, of course, kicked his arse," she said smugly.

"Oh, really? You think you could kick mine?" he asked. Ginny grinned and folded her arms over her chest.

"I'd bet anything on it," she said. Paul looked at her with interest.

"Anything? Confident, are we?" he asked.

"Of course," she said. He smirked.

"Let's make a bet then," he said.

"Fine. Name your terms," she said. Paul's grin widened.

"You first," he said. Ginny hesitated, mentally deciding what the best punishment for Paul was and wondering why he was grinning that way at her- what mischievous plans did he have up his sleeve? She thought maybe she could get him to do something for her… like quit his job as supervisor of the school paper. She could think of a few other things she'd like him to do…

"Okay," Ginny said, "how about this: If I win, you have to do anything I ask you for the next two days. Agreed?"

"Heh," said Paul, "that's fine with me. What could you possibly ask me to do, anyway?"

"You don't want to know," Ginny said with an evil smile.

"You're right," he said. "Well, then, for my terms: If I beat you at this game, you have to go on a date with me at Hogsmeade this Saturday." Ginny let her jaw drop, closed it, and stared wide-eyed at Paul.

"Are you serious?" she asked. He nodded. "There's no way!"

"Okay," said Paul. "If I had known you thought you were going to lose, though…"

"I'm not going to lose!"

"Fine, then, let's play," he said.

"Fine."

And so they began a game of wizard's chess, which went on for an hour, more or less. By this time, the common room was full of people. The game was tough, and Ginny had to admit that Paul was a good opponent. However, towards the end of the game he seemed to be getting more and more of her pieces. This didn't dismay her, though, for she had her strategies and she would take his king, no matter what.

"Checkmate."

"W-what?" Ginny exclaimed. Paul's bishop knocked Ginny's king over, a look of victory upon his face to match Paul's. Ginny was devastated.

"How did that happen?" she asked. Paul grinned.

"I found out that Lord Voldemort was a master at chess, so I tried it out once. It turns out I have a natural talent for winning," he said. Ginny furrowed her brow.

"That's not fair. You cheated," she said. Paul chuckled.

"No, I didn't," he said. "It was a fair game. Admit it; I won fair and square, and now you have to go on a date with me this weekend."

Ginny put her head in her hands, frustrated. What was she going to do now? She had to go on a date with Paul, and she despised him. Well, okay, she didn't despise him, but there were a few things about him that she definitely didn't like. For one thing, he looked exactly like Tom Riddle.

"Good game," Paul said, patting her on the back. "I'll see you Saturday, then. Meet me in the common room at 11." He left.

Ginny got up and went straight to her room. She was still in shock from losing to Paul at chess, when she never lost to anybody, except Ron, but even then that only happened rarely. She lay down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling for a good hour or so, lost in her thoughts. Then she fell asleep.

-

Ginny woke up early and in a good mood: two things that never happen to her. She even got out of bed before her roommate did. She put on her uniform, charmed her hair straight, applied some light makeup and headed down to the common room. To her surprise, she was not the first person awake.

Paul waved to Ginny from a sofa near the fireplace. She groaned inwardly and put on a smile as she went over towards him and sat down.

"What are you doing up so early, love?" Paul inquired.

"I would ask you the same thing, _dear_," she said mockingly and with a smirk on her face.

"Couldn't sleep. I've been up for an hour, thinking. It's too noisy in my dorm," he said. Ginny raised an eyebrow.

"Noisy?"

"My roommates snore," he explained.

"Oh. What were you thinking about?"

"Various things… mostly this whole horcrux-Voldemort-ritual thing. I really do need to stop worrying about it so much," he said.

"No!" Ginny said, then realized how loud she was considering the entire Gryffindor house was still asleep and covered her mouth. "I mean… no, y-you shouldn't do that. Don't just brush it off like it's nothing and forget about it. It's very important that we figure out what Voldemort's plans were before he died. It's just that… to think about it too much would be a little obsessive, you know." Paul chuckled.

"That's very true. You know, Ginny, I'm really lucky to have you around. Where would I be without you?" he said. Ginny felt a little color come to her cheeks for just an second, but she laughed it off and shook her head.

"I honestly don't know, Paul," she replied truthfully. Just then, a group of giggling second year girls entered the common room. Paul looked over at Ginny.

"Eet looks like eet eez time for ze breakfast," he said, earning a laugh from Ginny.

"Don't you laugh at my accent," he said, once the girls were gone. Ginny pouted.

"Sorry," she said. Paul grinned.

That's okay. Here," he stood up and held out his hand. Ginny hesitantly took it, and he helped her up. Then they went down to breakfast together.

-

Ginny remained in a fairly good mood during breakfast, until the owls came. At that time, the first issue of _The Juicy Hog_ was delivered- hundreds of papers were floating above the students' heads. Ginny grabbed one and read the front page:

**The Juicy Hog**

**Issue No. 1**

**Supervisor: Ginny Weasley**

**Asst. Supervisor: Paul Elddir.**

Ginny looked at Paul questioningly. He glanced at the paper and nodded.

"That was my decision, if you were wondering. I was hoping you'd accept the position?" he asked.

"I… I couldn't," Ginny replied.

"Don't be absurd; of course you can. What do you say?"

"Do I have a choice?" Ginny asked. Paul grinned.

"Not at all." Ginny smiled and read the rest of the heading on her paper:

**Editors: Luna Lovegood, Dennis Creevey.**

**Journalist: Luna Lovegood.**

**Photographer: Colin Creevey.**

**Gossip Columnist: Romilda Vane.  
**

"What!" Ginny exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Paul asked.

"Since when do we have a gossip column?" Ginny wanted to know. Paul shrugged.

"Since Romilda volunteered to start one. I told her she could write about whatever she wanted," Paul explained. Ginny stared at him for a moment before hastily flipping over to the gossip column to see what Romilda cooked up. She read:

**Harry Potter to visit Hogsmeade Saturday**

_It is rumoured that Head Girl Ginny Weasley of Gryffindor received a letter from Harry Potter himself this past week. That's right; the Chosen One himself is coming to Hogsmeade to see his ex-girlfriend this Saturday. I heard that these two ex-lovers plan to rekindle their lost flame of love from two years ago. Better luck next time, ladies! Harry Potter is not single anymore, but keep hoping. And don't forget to go to Hogsmeade this Saturday to catch a glimpse of the boy-who-lived! That's all for now; see you next month!_

_Romilda_

Ginny's fist closed around the paper, crumpling it. She tore it into as many pieces as possible, imagining it was Romilda's head, before screaming bloody murder.

"I'm going to kill her!" Ginny yelled as she stood up.

"Who?" Paul asked, getting up. He had a worried look on his face. Ginny furiously pointed an accusing finger at Romilda, who was seated on the other side of the Gryffindor table chatting away with a friend. She then proceeded to make her way over towards the poor, oblivious girl with a look of pure loathing and wrath on her face. Paul ran after her and held her back, preventing her from striking Romilda.

"Let me go!" Ginny screamed at him. By now the entire Great Hall had their eyes on Ginny and Paul, wondering what their fiery-tempered, fiery-haired Head Girl was mad about. Some of them, having read the gossip column already, were looking on amusedly, knowing exactly why she was mad, and wanting to see what she would do. Hagrid was out of his seat, but he remained still, waiting for something to happen first. Paul seemed to be handling the situation well, as he was stronger than Ginny. However, when she was in one of her moods, she was not fun to mess with.

"Come on, Ginny," Paul said, calmly, "let's go back to the common room. You can take all of your anger out on me, okay? Come on!" He then picked Ginny up off of her feet and flung her over his back, all the while bearing kicking and screaming form her. He carried her out the door and all the way to the common room. Everyone in the Great Hall resumed what they were doing, including Romilda, who shrugged the situation off as if nothing had happened.

Paul stopped in front of the portrait of the fat lady, who complained as she swung out of the way that it was too early in the morning for this. Paul went over to the crimson couch by the fireplace and plopped Ginny down on it. She was still making a fuss over what had happened, but the screaming at the top of her lungs had ceased.

"Now," Paul said serenely, "tell me: what happened?" Ginny fumed.

"Didn't you read your own paper?" she spat.

"Most of it," he replied with a shrug.

"Then I suggest you re-read it! That bitch Romilda wrote about Harry visiting me this weekend! She is such a gossipy whore!"

"Well, she is the gossip columnist," Paul commented, earning him a death glare from Ginny. "I mean- this is all my fault. I should have read Romilda's article before letting it be posted around the entire school. But look at it this way: don't you think the news would have spread around even without the paper? It couldn't be helped."

"Yeah, but… but the way she put it… she made it sound like Harry and I were still together," Ginny said.

"Still?" Paul commented on her word choice.

"Oh. You didn't know, did you? Harry and I dated, two years ago, but we broke up after Dumbledore died," she explained. Ginny thought she detected the slightest hint of jealousy on Paul's visage.

"I see," he said. "You know, classes are going to start soon, so we should be getting out of here." Ginny nodded in agreement, and they left the common room together for their first class.

Paul didn't speak much to Ginny for the remainder of the day. This bothered Ginny for some unknown reason. Well, deep down, she did know. She knew that she loved getting attention from Paul; she just didn't know _why_. During the day, Ginny received a lot of comments from students asking about Harry or making jokes about her and Harry. Paul actually got so sick of hearing it that he stood up for Ginny and told one of the Slytherins to get lost. This made Ginny feel slightly better. During the prefect's meeting after school, Kent went up to Ginny and told her he was sorry about what happened and that Romilda was an idiot. When Ginny asked him how he knew what Romilda claimed was false, he just smiled and told her it was a secret.

-

On Friday, Paul hardly spoke to Ginny at all, though he defended her again when a few students taunted her about Harry. Ginny had a feeling that Paul had talked to Kent about what happened, and that's why Kent confronted and consoled her at the meeting the other day. This made her smile; Paul really was a nice, caring person, and there was no doubt about that. Part of her didn't mind going on a date with him, after all.

-

**Stupid place to leave it, I know. And when I read the previous chapter over again, I realized that it, too, sucked. But it's all in good time now… the next chapter is very important. I hope you'll enjoy it.**

**FullMoon-Insanity**


	9. Reunion

**A/N: I'm baaaaaack! Didn't take me _that_ long to update this time, eh? I'll try to post the next update before school starts, too. So here's yet another chapter of everyone's favorite GinnyTom fanfic. That's right, I said GinnyTom. I just gave you a little hint of what's to come… but now I think I'd better keep my mouth shut and let you all read.

* * *

**

**Chapter VIII: Reunion**

Saturday came with a rapidity that caught Ginny off guard and left her in a mess at 10 o' clock in the morning, trying to figure out what to wear. She had to meet Paul at 11, and she couldn't find Harry's letter at all, let alone remember what time he had asked to meet her. She thought it was some time in the afternoon, though, and figured she'd just stick around the Three Broomsticks during that time period.

At precisely 10:45, Ginny had narrowed down her clothing choice to three outfits. Unfortunately, Tara had already left, so there was nobody to ask for advice. The first outfit consisted of a pleather miniskirt and green tankini. The second was a blue, frilly-ish skirt that fell to the knees, along with a plain white blouse. The third outfit was a pair of jeans and a slightly low black tank top.

_The first outfit is way too slutty_, Ginny thought, _and I definitely don't want Paul _or_ Harry to get the wrong impression_. _The second outfit is too formal for Paul, but just right for meeting Harry, and the jeans and tank top are too casual_. Ginny sighed and grabbed the third outfit, throwing it on as quickly as possible and then fixing her hair and makeup with a wave of her wand. _Casual it is, then._

Ginny headed down to the common room where she found Paul waiting patiently by the fireplace. He was wearing a Gryffindor-red shirt and black trousers. His black hair fell neatly in front of his eyes, and… Ginny realized she was staring at him from across the room and not moving. She shook her head and walked over to Paul.

"Hullo," she said. He smiled at her.

"Hey. Are you ready?" Ginny nodded her head. Paul held out his hand and she looked at it as if she didn't know what to do with it.

"Ginny?" he said, concerned. "You know, you're supposed to hold it."

"I-I know that, Paul. I'm not an idiot. It's just… weird. Holding your hand, I mean. Don't you think?"

"Not really," he replied, "that's what people do on dates, if I'm not mistaken. Then again, I'm not very experienced with this sort of stuff. You should be an expert, right? After all, you did date Harry Potter."

"Paul, please. Don't bring that up... Here." She grabbed his hand and led him out of the common room. They made their way to Hogsmeade together, neither of them speaking a word until they got there. When they reached the Three Broomsticks, Paul turned to Ginny.

"Listen… I'm sorry about mentioning Harry before. I won't do it again, if you don't want me to." Ginny smiled.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Let's get something to eat now, I'm starved," she said, changing the subject. They went inside and sat down together. A waitress came to take their orders, and then left. Ginny noticed Paul was staring at her, so she looked down at the table. When she looked back up, he was still looking at her. She looked away again, blushing slightly. _Damn it, why am I blushing, anyway? It's just Paul. _

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Ginny asked, meeting his gaze.

"Two reasons. One: you look beautiful, and two: I have you all to myself, finally," he explained with a mischievous grin. Ginny blushed even more, then silently cursed herself for doing it.

"W-what do you mean?" she asked. Paul chuckled.

"Relax. My intentions are perfectly respectable," he said.

"I believe you," Ginny said. "You're not the type of bloke who would try something."

"And what type of bloke am I?" he asked. Ginny thought about this for a moment.

"You're a really nice bloke," she said. _A really good-looking bloke. Wow. That was hard not to say out loud. Why did I even think it? He looks like Tom! Well, not with those deep black eyes of his, and especially not while wearing a Gryffindor shirt. _Ginny laughed out loud at the thought of Tom wearing Gryffindor anything.

"Something funny?" Paul asked with a raised brow.

"Oh, nothing." At that moment, the waitress from earlier came back with their food. They ate in silence.

"Hey, Ginny?" Paul asked after a while.

"Mmf?" Ginny replied with a mouth-full of food.

"We should do this more often," he said. Ginny swallowed her food.

"And why's that?"

"Because I like spending time with you, even if you hate spending time with me."

"What? I don't hate spending time with you, Paul! Where'd you get that idea?"

"Well, for one thing, you didn't want to come on this date with me," he said.

"Oh." Ginny blushed again. _Dammit, stop doing that!_ Ginny looked down at her plate. _This isn't so bad, though. He's a perfect gentleman, he's good-looking, and he likes me. Why shouldn't I want to be here with him?_

"I don't want you to get the wrong idea, Paul, but I do like being with you. And I definitely like you. You're a great bloke, really," Ginny said. Paul smiled.

"Thanks." Ginny blushed under his gaze once more, looking away. He kept his eyes on her.

"Ginny…"

"Yes?"

"Er, nothing. Well, actually, just… would you let me try something?" he asked.

"It depends… should I be scared?" Paul chuckled.

"No, of course not."

"Um… what do you want me to do, then?" she asked.

"Just… close your eyes and don't move." Ginny raised an eyebrow but obediently closed her eyes. A moment later, she felt Paul lips on her own, kissing her. She had to admit, it was a nice feeling, and she was unable to stop herself from kissing him back.

_( …flashback… )_

"_Tom? Am I going to die?"_

_Tom Riddle looked at twelve-year-old Ginny Weasley and gave her a sympathetic smile. A false, sympathetic smile._

"_Yes."_

"_I'm scared, Tom. I don't want to die."_

"_Why?"_

"_I'm only twelve years old. I haven't lived my life yet. I've never… I've never even had my first kiss yet."_

"_I see. Would it make you happy if you got your first kiss before you died?"_

_Ginny nodded._

"_Well, then. I suppose I can do you one little favor for being such a helpful little poppet. I'm not Harry Potter, but I hope this will please you, princess."_

_And he kissed her. It was not a deep kiss; it was a short and simple peck on the lips, but it made Ginny feel like a princess._

_( …end flashback… )_

Ginny pulled away from their kiss, thinking, _why am I enjoying this? It's wrong… it's as if I'm kissing Tom._

"I can't, Paul," she said. Paul looked confused.

"Why not?"

"You're Tom- Maybe not in spirit, but in body. Either way… I can't kiss you." Paul looked hurt.

"Fine. I'm sorry I even thought about it. I won't come near you again, if that's what you want," he said.

"No! It's not what I want. I just… Oh, I don't know what I want," Ginny said.

"Well that's obvious," Paul said with a smirk. Ginny sighed.

"Please, Paul. Give me a break. I can't help it. You just look so much like Tom…"

"That's another thing- why do you always call him 'Tom' as if you knew him personally? And how can my appearance bother you so much if you've only seen a picture of the young Dark Lord?" Ginny sighed. _I'd better tell him the truth then. What other choice do I have? Well… here goes nothing. _And she told him everything. Everything that took place in her first year; from Lucius Malfoy dropping the diary into her schoolbag to killing chickens. She left out the part about the kiss, however, even if it was an innocent one. How could she explain that at the time, she was actually infatuated with Tom Riddle?

"I'm sorry, Ginny. I did not know," Paul said when she was finished telling her story. "Why didn't you tell me this sooner? You must have been traumatized when you saw me for the first time."

"Now you understand. And this is why we have to stop Voldemort's plans! If he were to be resurrected again, I don't know what I'd do…" Ginny started to sob quietly.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Nothing like that's going to happen. I won't let it. Hey, come on. Don't cry, Ginevra." Ginny started to sob harder at the sound of her name. Only Tom had ever called her that. To everyone else it was just 'Ginny.' Well, unless her mum was cross with her.

Suddenly, Ginny felt Paul's arms wrap around her. She looked up. He had come to the other side of the table. He whispered into her ear: "Please, don't cry. It's going to be okay." He wiped her tears away with his thumb. This made Ginny want to cry even more- the fact that Paul was being so understanding. She hated crying and felt like a fool for doing so. Finally she calmed down.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Don't be," he replied. He was still holding her in his arms. The two were unaware of someone entering the shop. Neither of them cared. Paul kissed Ginny again, and she responded warmly. It no longer mattered to her. Paul was not, and never would be, Tom Riddle. They stayed like that, kissing each other, for a few moments before they were interrupted by a voice that Ginny knew all too well.

"Ginny?" She pulled away from Paul, though he was still holding on to her, and looked up at the speaker.

"H-harry… Hi," she managed to say. Her face was bright red from embarrassment. Then she realized that Harry wasn't looking at her, but at Paul. His hand was at his side, ready to grab his wand at any moment.

"Um, Harry," Ginny said, standing up and moving in the way of Harry's view of Paul. "This is Paul. He's a transfer student… sort of." Harry looked up at her.

"What the _hell_ is going on?" he said through gritted teeth.

"I can explain everything," Ginny said. "Just…" she turned to Paul, "can you leave us alone for a few minutes?" Paul nodded and left.

"Ginny," Harry began, "would you care to tell me why, when I specifically asked to meet you here at noon, I come in to find you snogging the face off of, if my eyes aren't playing tricks on me… _Tom Riddle_?"

"Noon? Oh, I forgot what time I was supposed to meet you… I'm sorry. The thing is, I lost a bet to Paul, so he made me go on a date with him. And then, one thing led to another, and…"

"Who is he?" Harry interrupted.

"I told you, his name is Paul, and he's… oh. Right. Okay, I'll tell you the whole story, then. Sit down," Ginny instructed. The two sat down in the booth Ginny and Paul had just occupied not two minutes ago. Harry looked at Ginny expectantly. She explained everything about Paul: how he was Voldemort's clone and how they thought Voldemort had a plan to resurrect himself, and how Paul was involved in some unknown ritual before Voldemort died.

"Wow," was Harry's first reaction. "That was the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. And yet… I believe you. I don't know why, but I do. Why don't I talk to Paul. Maybe we can figure something out. Voldemort… it's not impossible for him to come back again. If that's the case, then we have to figure this out. You understand?" Ginny nodded.

"I'll go get Paul," she said.

"Wait. I wanted to talk to you about something else, first. I came here for a reason, you know. I wanted to see you," he said.

"Why?" Harry smiled.

"Because… I haven't seen you in so long. I believe the last time we saw each other was right before I killed Voldemort, right? At Dumbledore's memorial service. I've been thinking about you ever since that day, and I realize what a complete ass I've been to you. I needed to see you, to apologize."

"You don't need to apologize, Harry. You had your duties," Ginny said.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you, though."

"No; you did nothing wrong. Harry, it's okay. You're the chosen one. You have responsibilities. I'm happy for how your life turned out. You must be the most famous wizard who's ever lived, right?"

"I don't know about that… but of course, I didn't kill Voldemort for the glory. And I hate having my picture taken all of the time. But I deal with it." Ginny smiled.

"I'm glad."

"It seems you have a nice life too, without me. You must not miss having me around with a guy like Paul." Ginny blushed.

"We're not dating or anything… we just kissed twice. That's all," she said.

"So I suppose," Harry said, "that we're friends again? My feelings for you never did change, you know. But… I'm willing to let you go. You looked happy with Paul, after all."

"I-I guess so," Ginny said, blushing at the thought. "Harry, you know, even if we aren't together anymore… you were the first guy I ever loved. I won't stop loving you, either. You're like a brother to me, I suppose. Even if I don't need any more brothers…" Harry smiled.

"Thanks, Ginny." He stood up, "Why don't we go find your friend, and we can all talk." Ginny got up.

"Okay. Thanks, Harry." She hugged him. Then she went outside to find Paul waiting patiently for her.

"Well?" he asked.

"I explained everything to him. It's fine. He wants to talk to you. To us, actually. Okay?" Paul nodded. "Good. I'll go get him." she turned around.

"Wait," Paul said.

"Yes?" she turned to face him.

"That kiss… uh… well, did that mean anything to you, or was it just…" Ginny interrupted him by placing her lips on his in response.

"Just shut up and wait there, okay?" she said. He nodded. Ginny brought Harry back outside and the three of them went to the Hog's Head to talk. It was Harry's idea to go there so that they could speak in privacy about Voldemort and such.

When they entered the shop, none of them noticed the dark hooded figure in the corner's eyes following them. They sat down at a table not far from said figure, but they kept their voices low when they spoke.

"So," Ginny began, "Harry, you would know about horcruxes, don't you? Could Voldemort have made another one?"

"Wait a minute," Harry said, "where did this idea come from? Voldemort would be crazy to make another horcrux. That's impossible."

"It was my idea," Paul said, "And I think it's possible. How does one make a horcrux, anyway?"

"You kill someone, that's how," Harry said.

"That's what Slughorn said, remember, Paul? Did Voldemort kill somebody during the ritual?" Ginny asked. Paul closed his eyes and scrunched up his face, as if trying to remember.

"I can't recall," he said, "it's all so fuzzy. Actually, I didn't mention this before, but I think I may have been unconscious at one point."

"What?" Ginny said. "Why didn't you say that before?" She sighed. "This is useless. I feel like we don't know for sure whether or not Voldemort is truly dead."

"We don't," Harry said.

"What? Harry, you of all people would know. You killed him," Ginny said.

"I know I did. But the man was smart. He could have taken more precautions we don't know about."

"And I'm probably just a pawn in his plan, right?" Paul said.

"Probably. Sorry, mate," Harry said. "Hey, I just got an idea. What if we use a pensieve to retrieve your memories of this ritual, Paul? Maybe Ginny and I can figure it out."

"That won't work." Came a voice from the next table. The dark hooded figure rose. "None of your pathetic ideas will work. You won't figure out what the Dark Lord has planned. I know, and only I can tell you." He sat down at their table.

"Who-?" Harry began.

"I'll show you, in a moment. But let me take the time now to say: Do not be alarmed. I will answer all of your questions in due time." The figure lowered his hood.

"Snape!" Ginny nearly shouted.

"Hush, girl!" Snape hissed. He turned to Harry. "Mr. Potter. So good to see you again. Don't give me that look, now. I did nothing wrong."

"Why? Why did you kill him?" Harry asked. Snape sighed audibly.

"I took an unbreakable vow to save my skin and to protect the Order. That vow prevented me from letting Dumbledore live. I'm not the bad guy, okay? Besides, he knew what was coming. He was smart enough not to resist fate. Let me assure you, I hold that man in the highest respect. Don't believe me if you don't want to, but for now, you have no choice," Snape explained. "Now. I have something to tell you. All three of you." Ginny, Harry, and Paul exchanged glances.

Snape looked around to make sure nobody was listening, and then whispered: "There are death eaters after you. As long as you three are together, they will be able to find you and take you. If they have only one or two of you, they can do you no harm, but if they have all three of you, they will kill you all and resurrect the Dark Lord."

"W-what? What do they need me for?" Ginny asked. Snape gave her a look of pity.

"Miss Weasley… I'm afraid to say, they have the diary. His diary. Since you have a connection with it, they need your blood to bring back the memory of Tom Riddle." Ginny gasped.

"No, they couldn't! That's worse than I expected… Please, you can't let this happen! You can do something, can't you, Professor?"

"I can do nothing. I'm sorry. All I can do is warn you. If you and "Mr. Elddir" return to Hogwarts, the death eaters cannot touch you. You'll be safe there, and Harry will be safe if you're safe. So please, get back to the school as soon as possible. I'll escort you halfway to make sure you get there okay, but only halfway. I can't risk being seen by anyone."

Putting his hood back on, Snape led the three of them outside and through a less crowded area to get back to Hogwarts without arousing suspicion from anyone. Harry said he would follow them back to Hogwarts. Ginny had a lot of questions that she still wanted to ask Snape, as did Harry, but they kept quiet. They had no choice but to trust him.

When they reached the halfway point, Snape bid them goodbye, and left. As soon as he was gone, a streak of red light hit Ginny in the back and she fell face forward onto the ground, unconscious. As soon as Harry and Paul had gotten their wands out and faced their attacker, their wands flew out of their hands.

Lucius Malfoy stood there, holding their wands and smirking. Then he magically bound all three of them and disapparated with them.

* * *

**Face the wrath of the evil cliffhanger! MWAHAHAHAHA! Sorry, couldn't resist. Everything will be explained in the next chapter, and there will most likely be more interaction between Ginny and Paul, and maybe Paul and Harry will have a little chat. But it's not going to be a happy chapter, sorry. That's all I can say for now! I'll try to post the next chapter before school starts.**


	10. Captured

**a/n: Well, it only took me a month to upload this time, but I did it before school started! Woot! So... I can't promise the next update will be within a month, but I will certainly try! Especially since the story gets much more interesting from here on...**

**--------------**

**Chapter IX: Captured**

When Ginny awoke, she couldn't remember what had happened to her. All she knew was that she had a terrible headache and was in a stuffy room that she did not recognize. She rolled over and stood up.

"Morning, sleepyhead," came a voice from behind her. She turned around.

"Harry. What happened?" She saw Paul standing next to him, and felt a shiver run through her body. Then she remembered everything.

"Where are we?" she demanded.

"Death eater's headquarters," Harry explained. "We're imprisoned here until they send for us. They're preparing for the ritual."

"How long was I out for?" she asked. Harry shrugged.

"An hour or two."

"We have to get out of here," she said. She went over to the door and tugged on it over and over. Then she began slamming her fists on it until her hands hurt. "Come on," she said to Harry and Paul, "help me!"

"It's no use," Paul said. "You can't open it or break it down by force. You need magic." Ginny slumped to the ground and started to cry. The only time she'd been in such a scary situation was when she was in the chamber of secrets, and even then she hadn't cried. Now, she felt lost, defeated, and alone. She was probably going to die, along with Paul and Harry, and Voldemort would be resurrected.

Ginny felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her. Paul had knelt down beside her.

"We'll get out of here," he told her. "Don't worry." This made her feel ever-so-slightly better, but it didn't change the fact that she had been captured by death eaters and locked into a tiny room. Still, being in Paul's arms… well, she couldn't help but feel good.

"Someone's coming," Harry said. The door did open seconds later, and in walked Paul Zabini. Paul (Elddir) stood up.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"The ritual is almost ready," Zabini explained. Paul looked at Ginny.

"What happens to her?" he asked. Zabini hesitated.

"That's… up to the Dark Lord," he said. Ginny's eyes widened. So her fate rested in the hands of Tom Riddle. Great.

"And what about Paul and Harry?" Ginny asked, looking Zabini in the eye.

"Potter will die. As for Paul… he'll live. Sort of."

"What do you mean?" Ginny demanded. Zabini sighed.

"His body will become the Dark Lord's new body. So, actually, 'Paul Elddir' will cease to exist." Ginny gasped. Her worst fears were realized. Not only was Tom coming back, but he was going to use Paul's body. So Paul would die, then. Just when she was starting to like him… a lot.

"This can't be happening," Ginny said.

"I'm afraid it is," Zabini responded coldly.

Ginny turned to Paul and took his hand in hers.

"I don't want to lose you," she said to him.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me, Ginevra," he replied.

"I have to! Don't you realize this may be the last time we'll see each other?"

"Of course! But you're talking as if there's no hope at all," Paul explained.

"There isn't," Zabini said. "I'm sorry, Paul, but this has to be done. You're a good bloke, really. I liked you. But you knew the Dark Lord had plans for you ever since the horcrux ritual. The last part of his soul is inside of you, and it is because of that link we are able to perform this ritual."

"What?" Harry exclaimed. "You mean Paul is a horcrux?" Zabini nodded.

"A walking, talking horcrux. And that's how we'll be able to bring the diary back. The memory of Tom Riddle will be restored. We need the girl and your blood to complete the restoration, though. Brilliant, isn't it?"

"Er, quite," said Paul, "But why didn't I know about this?"

"The Dark Lord did not wish it to be known to you," Zabini explained. At that moment, Lucius Malfoy came waltzing in. Ginny shivered at the site of him. So this was the man who started everything 6 years ago by dropping a little black book into her schoolbag.

"It's time," Malfoy said. He and Zabini 'escorted' the three teenagers outside. They were brought to an open field, where maybe a half dozen death eaters stood. The sky was dark, even though the sun hadn't yet set. There was a large cauldron in the middle of a circle of candles. It was lying over an open fire, and there was steam rising from the top, but it looked like liquid smoke. In front of it, on the ground, lay the diary, which Ginny immediately recognized. She cringed.

Malfoy began reciting some Latin words from memory, probably an incantation. Zabini took out his wand and moved towards Harry. He grabbed Harry by the wrists and forced him over towards the cauldron. Ginny turned around. She and Paul were surrounded by the death eaters.

"Paul," she said, "do you think there's any hope now? Do you think we'll get out of here at all?" He looked down at her and just smiled, then kissed her on the forehead. She looked over at Harry and Zabini. Zabini had made a small wound in Harry's arms and let the blood drip into the cauldron. Malfoy's voice grew louder, and the cauldron hissed. Zabini threw Harry to the ground. Then he turned to Ginny next. _Oh God, _she thought, _this is really happening._

"Wait," Ginny said to Zabini. And for some odd reason, he did. She turned to Paul and whispered "I love you." Paul reached out and hugged her before Zabini started to drag her away.

She was brought up to the cauldron. Zabini held her arm out and pointed his wand to it. He said an incantation, and her arm began to bleed openly. A few drops went into the cauldron, and the steam rose higher and hissed. Malfoy's voice grew even louder, and Ginny felt dizzy. Zabini stopped the wound in her arm from bleeding, and brought her to where Harry lay. Harry looked at her.

"I'm sorry," he said. Ginny reached out and hugged him tightly.

"You did nothing wrong," she said. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I dragged you into this. If I had paid more attention, I'd be at Hogsmeade with you right now, you would never have met Paul, and we wouldn't have been brought here. So it's my fault, really."

"Don't blame yourself… Ginny, I'm supposed to protect you." Ginny smiled.

"It's okay. Thank you, though, for always caring about me." She hugged him again. Finally, Malfoy's voice stopped. She looked over in the direction of the cauldron and immediately stood up. The liquid smoke rose up, out of the cauldron and into the diary on the ground. Out of the diary came the weak, transparent form of Tom Riddle. Paul looked at Ginny, who had a terrified look on her face. He mouthed the words 'I love you, too,' before being knocked unconscious by Zabini's spell. Riddle then moved towards Paul's body and disappeared into it. For a while, nothing happened, and all was silent. Then Paul began to move, and stood up. Only this time, it wasn't Paul. It was Tom.

"No," Ginny murmured to herself. Harry turned to her.

"Wait for the opportunity to run," he whispered.

"I-I can't… Paul is…"

"He's gone," Harry said. "There's nothing we can do to change that. Now, just wait. You do want to get out of here alive, don't you?" Ginny nodded, and a tear slid down her cheek.

"Hey," Harry said, "we're gonna get out of here, alright? Paul was… he was a great bloke. We were talking to each other before, and I realized that he's a good person, and… I don't think there's anybody else I would have approved of for you, Ginny." Ginny smiled.

"Thank you," she said.

The death eaters that were surrounding them made their way towards Paul, or rather Tom. Harry looked at Ginny. She nodded in response. They got up and ran as fast as they could towards the building they were previously in. By the time the death eaters had their wands out, the two were already inside the building.

"What now?" Ginny asked as they ran through the hallway.

"Find our wands," Harry shouted back to her. Suddenly a death eater apparated in front of them. Harry made a turn into a nearby room and Ginny followed, but the death eater grabbed her. She shrieked. Then she realized something.

"Harry, you can apparate from here! Go! Get out of here!" she shouted. Harry shook his head. "Go!" she screamed. The death eater dragged Ginny with him into the room Harry was in. He pointed his wand at Harry and threw a stunning spell at him, but it was too late. Harry had disapparated.

At that point two other death eaters had apparated inside the room. The one who was holding Ginny pushed her to the ground.

"You stupid girl!" he hissed. She looked up and her eyes widened as she saw the death eater point his wand at her. A beam of red light hit him in the back and he fell to the ground. Behind him was Tom Riddle. He turned to his death eaters.

"Leave us. And take this filth with you," he said, pointing to the stunned death eater on the ground. The two death eaters obeyed and left with other one. Tom turned to Ginny.

"Well, well. Ginevra Weasley." Ginny was frozen with fear. The look of terror on her face made Tom grin. She shuddered.

"You've got more spunk in you, I see. That's good. But you're still weak when you're in my presence. I guess some things never change," he said with a smirk. Ginny got to her feet, slowly.

"Well, I suppose we're making some progress," Tom continued. "My goodness, though. How long has it been?"

"Six years," Ginny said. Tom raised a brow.

"I see we've been counting. Very good, Ginevra," he said. Ginny wanted nothing more than to wipe that smirk off of his face… but she didn't dare. She was too afraid.

"What are you going to do to me?" she asked. Tom's grin widened.

"Kill you." He raised his wand. Ginny's eyes widened. She closed her eyes and prayed for everything to just disappear. She hoped within all hope that this was just a dream; a terrible nightmare that she had yet to wake up from. She heard Tom's voice say "Avada Kedavra!" Even from beneath her eyelids she could see the flash of green light. And then… blackness.

_Am I dead?_ Ginny thought. As soon as she opened her eyes she realized that she was very much alive… and she hadn't been dreaming. Tom was still there, in front of her, and he looked more shocked than she was.

"Why didn't it work?" he asked. "Avada Kedavra!" This time, nothing happened at all; no green light or anything. "Damn it!" He shouted, "Why won't you die?"

Ginny was slowly regaining confidence at this point. For some reason, Tom was unable to kill her. Maybe there was hope, after all. _Too bad I never learned to apparate, _she thought.

"Can't you just let me go?" Ginny asked. "It's not like I'm going to tell anybody what happened here. They wouldn't believe me anyway." Tom shook his head at her.

"Nice try. It's bad enough that Potter got away. I have no choice but to kill you. Here, I'll just use another means." He lifted his wand and said an incantation. A rope shot out from the end of his wand and wrapped around Ginny's neck. She grabbed at the rope and struggled to pull it off, but it was getting tighter. She couldn't breathe. And suddenly, neither could Tom. He lifted the spell and the two gasped for air.

"W-what happened?" she asked. Tom glared at her.

"I don't know. I felt like I was being strangled along with you…" he seemed more scared than disappointed. He walked closer to Ginny and transfigured his wand into a knife. Ginny backed away.

"Wait," he said, "don't move. I'm not going to kill you. Yet."

"T-that's not very reassuring, you know," she said, still backing away. Frustrated, he grabbed her arms and made a small puncture in her the palm of her left hand with the knife. Her hand began to bleed. Ginny clutched her hand away. Tom then looked at his left hand.

"Look!" he said, showing Ginny his hand. There was a small wound in the same place that was on her hand, and it was bleeding. Ginny tilted her head to the side.

"I don't understand," she said.

"Neither do I. But somehow, our bodies- and our souls- must be connected… Maybe the ritual had something to do with it, or maybe… maybe it goes farther back, to six years ago. The point is, if you were to die, I'd probably die, and the other way around. Maybe that's why I couldn't kill you," he said.

"Maybe it's only temporary," Ginny said.

"Can't take any chances, though. I'm going to have to keep you alive, and keep a sharp eye on you," Tom said.

"You can't keep me here!" Ginny pleaded. "I… I have to go back to Hogwarts! They'll realize I've been missing. Harry- he'll have gone to the Ministry of Magic by now, anyway. They'll find you! Please, let me go!" Tom thought about this.

"Well," he said, "I guess I could send you back to Hogwarts, but only if I go with you."

"What?"

"You said they'd realize you were missing, but my clone was a student there, too. I can't have anybody asking questions, so I'm going to Hogwarts with you as this 'Paul Elddir.' Besides, like I mentioned before, I have to keep a close eye on you, to make sure nothing happens to you. As long as we are connected like this," he gestured to his bleeding hand, "I have to assure your safety in order to assure mine."

"You can't go to Hogwarts," Ginny said. Tom smirked.

"Why not? I never finished my seventh year anyway, so I might as well do it now." (a/n: the diary is from his seventh year-or was it sixth?- so either way I'm guessing Tom's memory in the diary doesn't remember finishing seventh year…?)

"You don't even know anything about Paul! How are you going to masquerade as him without knowing who he was?" Ginny argued.

"Actually, I know everything about him. It's weird, but when my soul was transferred into his body, I regained all of his memories. So I remember everything from the moment he was created until now. I even know about his and your little tête a tête." Ginny's face turned bright red. Tom smirked. "I'm surprised about that, actually. You're not a bad kisser. But then again, look at who gave you your first kiss. You learned from the best, right?" Ginny slapped Tom as hard as she could, only to feel her own face sting.

"Ouch," she said, rubbing her cheek. Tom didn't even look hurt. In fact, he looked angry.

"I'd slap you back, you know, if I couldn't feel everything that happened to you. …Still, someone's going to have to show you your place, and I can take the pain better than you can." He slapped her, and she shrieked. He merely winced. Both their cheeks were pink.

"Don't ever do that again, are we clear?" he asked. She nodded in response. "Good. Now, I'm going to talk with Lucius and get a portkey ready to take us to Hogsmeade. In the meantime, you will stay put." He exited the room and closed the door behind it, saying a spell to keep it locked. All Ginny could do was sit down and mope. She was going back to Hogwarts, yes, but she would still be around Tom 24/7. It would be worse than being in Azkaban. In fact, she'd have preferred it if Tom had been able to kill her. She also had to live with the fact that Paul was gone, and there was no way of bringing him back.

After what seemed like forever, Tom entered the room. He motioned for Ginny to follow him, which she did. The two were silent as they went outside. Lucius Malfoy was standing there, waiting for him. On the ground next to him was the diary.

"Miss Weasley," Malfoy addressed her. "Say hi to my son for me." Ginny looked confused.

"What are you talking about?" she queried. Malfoy just grinned.

"You'll see," he said.

"You know, Mr. Malfoy," Ginny said with a mock smile, "the Order is going to find this place, and find you, and put you in Azkaban." Malfoy laughed.

"I doubt it," he said. Then, turning to Tom, "are you ready, my Lord?" Tom nodded.

"Ginevra," he addressed Ginny, "grab onto the diary at the count of three, or else you'll be left behind and Lucius will have to punish you." Ginny looked at Malfoy and cringed.

"1…2…3!" At the same time, Ginny and Tom grabbed onto the diary. Ginny felt as if her stomach was being turned inside out. She was not standing on anything solid, and her head felt as if it were a million miles away from her body. Finally, the feeling stopped, and her feet were on solid ground again.

Ginny looked at her surroundings. They were in Hogsmeade, in a dark corner where nobody could see them. Tom made sure they weren't being watched, and then turned to Ginny.

"What happened to you doesn't leave this place. Nobody is to know about it, or I will have you locked away. You don't want that, do you, Ginevra?" Ginny shook her head. Tom grabbed Ginny's arm, leading her out into the open. Ginny stopped him.

"Wait," she said, "can I at least have my wand back?"

"Not until we get to Hogwarts," he said. He then proceeded to walk towards the direction of Hogwarts, and Ginny reluctantly followed. They were stopped by Luna Lovegood, Colin Creevey, and somebody Ginny did not recognize. He was tall, handsome, with square, black-rimmed glasses, sandy brown hair, and a warm smile.

"Hey, Ginny, Paul! Where have you been? We were looking for you," Colin said. Tom smiled.

"Oh, we've been… around," he said.

"How was the date?" Luna asked. Ginny turned red and opened her mouth to speak, but Tom was quicker.

"Do you really want to know?" he asked, smiling wider. Luna nodded. "Well, then. Ginevra and I have decided to start seeing more of each other. We're really fond of each other, aren't we, love?" he turned to Ginny. Her face reddened even more, and she turned away.

"What's wrong, Ginny?" Luna asked.

"She's just a little embarrassed," Tom explained.

"Gin, what's there to be embarrassed about? You two like each other, don't you?" Colin asked. Ginny sighed.

"Yes," she said. _Might as well play along, _she thought.

"Oh, by the way, Ginny- this is my boyfriend Anthony," Luna said, referring to the older boy beside her.

"It's nice to meet you, Ginny," Anthony said, extending his hand, "I've heard a lot about you." Ginny shook his hand.

"It's nice to meet you, too," she said. The five all began to make their way back to Hogwarts, talking along the way. Tom kept up his facade and nobody seemed to notice a change in him. After all, Paul and Tom were both very charming people, with whom anyone would easily get along.

When they got back to Hogwarts, Anthony bid them goodbye and left them, and the rest of the group went back to the Gryffindor common room. Luna and Colin entered the room, while Tom held Ginny back.

"Here's you wand," he said, taking her wand out of his robe pocket and handing it to her. She took it gratefully and stored it safely away.

"Why did you tell them we were dating?" Ginny demanded. Tom smirked.

"I have to be keeping a close watch on you while I'm here, don't I? People will start to wonder why we'll be so close together all the time. It's better that they believe we're, well, intimate," Tom explained. "Is that a problem?" Ginny shook her head.

"But," she said, "just let Luna and Colin think that. I don't want the whole bloody school to think we're dating." _Not after what Romilda put in the paper about me and Harry. Then they'll think I'm some kind of slut,_ Ginny thought.

Tom shrugged. "Let's go," he said, then muttered the password. The portrait of the fat lady swung aside.

"You go ahead," Ginny said. "I'm sleeping in the Heads' dormitory tonight." She couldn't stand the thought of sleeping with Tom so nearby. Tom seemed a little upset about this, but then retired to the common room alone. Ginny went back to the Head Girl's room and fell asleep.

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**SOOO? What do you think? Do you like the fact that Tom's back? Or do you miss Paul? Please review!**


	11. Riddle

**a/n: hello, all. sorry for the delay as well as the length of this chapter. Longer apology's at the bottom, along with a nice little sneak peek into the next chapter...**

**Chapter X: Riddle**

**-**

Ginny tried to sleep that night. Actually accomplishing that task, however, was another matter that could not be resolved. She stayed up most of the night thinking about what had just happened to her. She picked up her journal from underneath her pillow and looked at it in disgust. She was sick of it. Diary or no, it was something that would always remind her of Tom, and she didn't need that right now, not when Tom was back, now, here, in Hogwarts. She took out her wand, used it to levitate the diary, and then burned it in midair. She watched the flames devour what she once used as a means of escape, what was once used to write crappy teenage angsty poetry to make herself feel better and to forget about her past. But she could never erase the past. Not while Tom was a part of her present, and, unfortunately, future.

Finally Ginny got up, took out a piece of parchment and a quill, and began to write a letter to Harry, wherever he may have been at the time. She started the letter out explaining that she was okay, had gotten back to Hogwarts alive and well, and that she hoped he was all right. She explained the situation with Tom staying at Hogwarts as 'Paul Elddir.' She explained that if she were injured, Tom would be injured in the same way, and if she were to die, Tom would die, and vice versa. She ended the letter saying that she was in no danger because of this, and that he shouldn't worry about her, just tell the ministry that Voldemort's back and to do something about it… without getting her killed. Ginny thought about the fact that if Tom were to die, she would, too, and since she wanted Tom dead, this was quite impossible. And if there were really no other way to stop Tom without her dying… maybe that was a risk she'd have to take.

Ginny pondered over her letter to Harry, over how to stop Tom, and over many other things, before she sealed up the letter, tied it to her owl's leg, and sent it off into the night. Then she went to bed, and it took her a while before she actually fell asleep, but it happened.

On Sunday morning, Ginny went down to breakfast to find the entire Gryffindor table crowding around Tom. Tom was talking animatedly about something or other, getting everyone to like him even more, undoubtedly. Romilda Vane was practically swooning. Only Tom noticed Ginny walk in. He stopped his little speech and smiled at her, motioning for her to join him. She groaned inwardly and kept walking, towards the Ravenclaw table. She sat next to Luna.

"Hullo, Gin," Luna said with a smile. "What's all that about over there?"

"Oh, just Tom-I mean Paul- showing off," Ginny said. Luna raised a brow.

"Do I detect jealousy?"

"What?" Ginny said. "No, of course not. I don't care if he has the entire bloody school's attention. Doesn't bother me in the slightest."

"Ginny," Luna said, "Why don't you just tell him if you don't like it? You're his girlfriend, aren't you?"

"Lu, please. I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone. I don't want anyone to know we're dating, okay?" Ginny lied. Luna nodded. _It was bad enough that Tom's back, _Ginny thought, _but to have to keep up the pretense of being his girlfriend? Ew._

"Sorry," Luna said. "But you know, I think you're real lucky to have a guy like Paul." Ginny just laughed.

"Yeah, I know," she said. _Except that guy over there, showing off? Yeah. That's not even Paul. That's Tom Riddle, a.k.a. Lord Voldemort. Not exactly boyfriend material_.

"So… what'd you think of Anthony?" Luna asked.

"Hm? Oh. He seems nice," Ginny replied. Luna looked disappointed.

"Just nice?" she said. Ginny thought about it.

"Well," she replied, "he's pretty cute, actually. You know, Lu, how is it that you have a cute boyfriend and I've been single since last year?"

"So you took a break; who cares? It was hard for you to move on after Harry. But at least you have Paul now. Now that I think about it, Paul's perfect for you. He's charming, intelligent, popular, incredibly good-looking…"

"I know," Ginny cut her off. _Paul _was_ perfect. Except he was a clone of someone else. And that someone else just took him away from me forever._

"Hey, weren't you supposed to meet Harry yesterday? Did you see him at all?" Luna asked.

"Oh yeah," Ginny said, "We had a little reunion."

"What happened?"

"He basically apologized to me for not being there and we decided that we'd be just friends. And you know what? I'm perfectly content with that. In fact, I couldn't be more satisfied." _I really am satisfied,_ Ginny thought. _Harry's such a wonderful friend to have; of course I'm satisfied. I just want Paul back now. Please._

"That's good," Luna agreed.

They ate their breakfast, talking occasionally. Ginny mostly stared over in the direction of the Gryffindor table, watching Tom gain more and more fans. Romilda would smile at him and laugh whenever he said something funny and twirl her hair and try to look cute in front of him. This made Ginny laugh on the inside because, although it annoyed her and she hated it when Romilda hung all over Paul, the fact that this time it wasn't Paul but Tom who she was trying to impress was hilarious. Tom would never give Romilda a second glance. He wouldn't give anyone a second glance. No girl deserved such an honor from him. He was so pompous, so vain, so arrogant, Ginny thought.

The fact that no one seemed to notice a change in Paul's behaviour almost surprised Ginny, even if Tom did have all of Paul's memories. It couldn't possibly be that easy to pretend to be someone else, especially somebody who's your polar opposite. Then again, Tom could just be a great actor. He was certainly good at deceiving people. However, why did it seem like Tom had such a knack for being Paul? Is it because he and Paul are, in fact, similar? Ginny wondered. Their personalities do have some similarities, but the two can't be compared any other way, she thought. For one thing, Paul is not evil. And Tom is certainly not capable of love, like Paul is. And… _I want Paul back!_ Ginny sighed. Then she sent a death glare in Tom's direction and he must have felt it telepathically or something, because he turned his gaze towards her and gave her a mock-smile. She rolled her eyes and looked away.

Ginny spent most of the day avoiding Tom, which didn't seem to be a problem since he had a crowd following him everywhere he went and he could never be left alone. That evening, when she was in the common room playing a game of chess with Dennis Creevey, she saw Tom finally get the crowd to disperse. It seemed he had something to discuss in private with Romilda. Ginny could not tear her eyes from the pair, unable to help wondering what they were talking about.

"Ginny? It's your turn," Dennis said. She nodded and looked back at the chess board. Then she heard Romilda giggle. She looked back at them.

"Really?" she heard Romilda say, while glancing over at Ginny. _Uh oh,_ Ginny thought, _why did Romilda just look at me? What's Tom done now?_

"Ginny," Dennis called, "it's your turn. …Are you okay?" He asked.

"Oh," Ginny said, turning her attention back to their game. "Yeah, I'm fine. Where'd you go?" Dennis pointed at his rook, which he had just moved into a lethal position near her king.

"Dennis, you're supposed to say 'check' when you're one step from getting my king," Ginny pointed out.

"I did," he said. "You weren't paying attention."

"Well, I… How did this happen, anyway? You almost have me defeated," Ginny said.

"I know. You know there's something seriously wrong when you lose to _me_ at chess, Ginny. You're not going easy on me, are you?"

"Dennis, I _always_ go easy on you and you still lose. But this time, I really don't know what happened…"

"You're distracted, that's what. Now, what's bothering you so much that you can't even beat me at chess?" Dennis asked, concerned. Ginny sighed.

"I don't know; I'm sure it's nothing. Here," she nonchalantly moved her queen in the way of the king, leaving Dennis' rook to take it.

"Checkmate," Dennis said. His rook knocked her king over and the game was done.

Ginny shook her head, shrugged, and looked back over at Tom. His little conversation seemed to be over as Romilda walked away from him and towards her friends. Tom was walking towards Ginny now, a grin gracing his handsome features. She groaned inwardly; what could he possibly be up to now?

"Hello, love," he greeted her and sat beside her on the couch. He briefly examined her and Dennis' finished game and then looked at her questioningly.

"Oh, so what? I lost a game of chess. _One_ game," she said.

"Two, if you count the last one you played with me," he said. _With Paul, not with you, you pompous piece of filth,_ Ginny wanted to say.

"I wasn't even trying anyway. I went easy on Dennis, like I always do. Right Dennis?" Dennis looked between the two, noticed the sparks flying between them, and deemed it better not to take sides.

"Whatever," he said. "I think I'll go… finish my homework," he said, and left. Ginny turned to Tom.

"So, I noticed you and Romilda had a pleasant little conversation just a few minutes ago. It makes me wonder: what would a dark lord be doing talking to some boy-crazy gossip queen girl for?" Ginny inquired. Tom smirked.

"My my, Ginevra. You seem to be doing a lot better than yesterday. You're not cowering before me now. I'm proud of you," he said. Ginny's face reddened for a moment, then she regained confidence.

"Look, Tom," she said boldly, "We are not on _your_ turf here. We are in _my_ school. Here, I'm Head Girl. That means _I_ make the rules, and _you_ listen to them, okay? I am not your prisoner while we're here, or anywhere else, for that matter. Got that?" Tom just laughed. And laughed. And laughed. Ginny's face reddened.

"Okay," she said, "That wasn't meant to be funny, you know. …Okay, Tom, stop laughing now. …Enough!" She had to hit him with a pillow several times to shut him up.

"Ginevra," he said finally, grabbing the pillow from her hands, "I am not here to keep you as a prisoner. I am here to make sure you don't get killed, or go blabbering to the ministry of magic that I'm back. I'm not telling you what to do otherwise, so there's no need to boss me around. I'm not giving you any orders, and in the same way, I don't take orders from anyone. So don't for once think that I am going to listen to you." His face darkened. "However," he said, "If I find you are contacting the ministry, I'll have to see that you're punished." Ginny shuddered. Then, with a happier tone, he said, "But you yourself told me that wouldn't be a problem, so there should be nothing to worry about, right?" Ginny nodded silently. "Good."

Just then two 5th year girls walked by, whispering to each other. They looked at Tom and Ginny, and then giggled. Ginny distinctly heard the words "they" and "dating." She turned to Tom.

"Do those girls think we're going out?" she asked. He shrugged.

"Maybe some boy-crazy gossip queen old them," he said with a sly grin. _Oh my god,_ Ginny thought, _he must have told Romilda we were dating! The whole school must know by now! I'm dead…_ Suddenly, making sure the same girls were watching, Tom leant down and placed a kiss on Ginny's cheek. Ginny was in too much shock to move. Immediately, the 5th years began whispering to each other more animatedly.

"T-tom…" Ginny said once she had gotten herself together, "what did you do that for?"

"It was just a show, Ginevra. Don't flatter yourself. Like I said yesterday, I have to keep a close watch on you constantly. It's better that they think we're a couple. And that also means that you have to act the part and show me some respect. If you behave like a fool in front of me, people will talk," Tom explained.

"People already are talking! They're going to think I'm the Hogwarts whore!" Ginny said. _Not something I want to happen._ _And I certainly don't want you kissing me. Or coming within ten feet of me, for that matter._

"You're not a whore, Ginevra. And don't worry about what others think of you. Didn't I teach you about that back in your first year? If you live your life always trying to impress people, you'll never get anywhere. Just be yourself, no matter what anyone says."

"I suppose you're right," Ginny said. Tom smirked.

"I'm always right, aren't I?" Ginny yawned in response. "Oh, I'm putting you to sleep, am I?" he said.

"Sorry. I'm just a little tired."

"It's late, Ginevra. Go to bed, you need your beauty rest," Tom commanded. Ginny nodded and obediently got up.

"You know, Tom," she said tiredly, "I actually sort of miss having you around to take care of me. That's not to say I'm glad you're back, because I'm _not_ glad you're back, but…" Another yawn.

"I think I know what you're saying," Tom responded with a smile, "And I'll just take it as a compliment." Ginny yawned again. "Good night, Ginevra."

"Good night, Tom."

* * *

**Yeah I know, I take forever to upload, and then I come up with this uber short crap chapter and a crap ending for said crap chapter. I'm terrible, aren't I? But I just wanted you to get used to Tom being back before I moved on with the story. And to make up for leaving you with such a short chapter, I'll give you a **

**CLUE ABOUT THE NEXT CHAPTER:**

**Draco Malfoy makes his appearance. **

**I know there are plenty of Draco fans out there, so I hope you'll enjoy. And, um, if you really love Draco, review. If you hate him, review anyway. If you love Tom, review, too! **


	12. War and Peace

**A/N: 3 whole months without updating. Um… High School. That's my excuse. **

**Oh, and to answer a question one of the reviewers had: **

**Tom does not have the memories of Lord Voldemort. He has the memories of young Tom Riddle from the diary: the memories of when the Chamber of Secrets was reopened in Ginny's first year. And he has Paul's memories, too (which aren't much, considering Paul existed for only about a year).**

**-Enjoy the update.

* * *

**

**Chapter XI: War and Peace**

Ginny woke up in a good mood. She hummed quietly to herself as she got dressed and ready to go down to breakfast. She brushed her hair and fixed it until it looked just right and once she was satisfied with her appearance, she went down to the common room.

Tom was nowhere to be found, which put Ginny into an even better mood. She smiled to herself as she made her way towards Colin and Dennis.

"Shall we?" she asked them.

"I'm starved," Dennis said. "Let's go." They headed to breakfast together and sat down at the Gryffindor table. It wasn't until after Ginny took a bite of her eggs that she saw him.

She started to choke. Wide-eyed, Colin started hitting Ginny's back. This didn't help at all; in fact, it only made it worse. Ginny kept coughing while hitting Colin to get him to stop hitting her, and eventually the coughs subsided. That's when she noticed _he_ was walking towards her. She closed her eyes and prayed that he would keep walking past her.

"What happened, Weasley? So excited to see me that you choked on your food?" Ginny cringed. That voice… she hated that voice! She opened her eyes.

"Go to hell, Malfoy."

"See you there, Weasley." Draco said with a haughty grin. Ginny narrowed her eyes at him.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" she asked. _I almost forgot Lucius Malfoy said I'd see his son. But what in the blazes is he doing at Hogwarts?_ She thought to herself. Draco smirked.

"I thought you'd ask that. You're going to have to get used to me being around again, Weasley, because you'll be seeing a lot of me from now on. I'm the new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher." Ginny's jaw literally dropped. She didn't know what to do or say. Draco Malfoy? Teaching Defense Against Dark Arts? In her school? She was Head Girl- why wasn't she informed of this?

"You look surprised, Weaselette," Draco said.

"You…I thought… but… what happened to Professor Blue?"

"He… decided it was best for his health if he retired," Draco replied, seemingly choosing his words carefully.

"He was only 43," Ginny said. "Wait… what did you do to the poor man? You didn't kill him, did you?" To this Draco laughed.

"Please. I wouldn't do anything like that. My father, maybe, but not me. Anyway, you can say Professor Blue was… persuaded to retire early. Understand?" Ginny narrowed her eyes.

"You threatened him." It wasn't a question.

"So what? He's in no danger now that he's out of our way."

"You disgust me, Draco Malfoy," Ginny spat. Draco smirked amusedly.

At that moment, somebody's arm slinked around Ginny's waist. She froze. When Draco's amused grin widened, she twisted around to see who had their grip on her.

"Tom." _I should have known,_ she thought. He was sitting where Colin had been a few moments before. She noticed both Colin and Dennis sitting with Luna now at the Ravenclaw table.

"Good morning, love," Tom said with a smile. "I see you've met our new teacher, Professor Malfoy. How do you like him?" Ginny realized now what was going on.

"Th-this was _your_ idea, wasn't it?" she said. Tom nodded in response, the smile never leaving his face. Ginny twisted out of his grip and folded her arms. "Why?" she asked.

"Because I'm surrounded by children, forced to act like a child, and I need at least one of my followers to be nearby. Thus, Draco," Tom explained briefly. Ginny sighed in defeat.

"I_ am_ a prisoner here," she said.

"You could look at it that way. But that's not necessarily my intention, so don't blame me for your feeling that way," Tom said.

"Okay, then. I'm not a prisoner. You and Malfoy are babysitting me," she said.

"That's how I look at it, actually," Draco said, "You're a child that needs constant supervision."

"There's no reason either of you need to be here. I'm not going to do anything to give away your little secret, okay? Nobody would believe me, anyway…" Ginny said. At that moment, the owls came, and Ginny's small owl flew by and dropped a letter into her lap. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was from, and realized both Tom and Draco saw it, too.

_Harry Potter, Ministry of Magic._

As soon as Ginny went to grab for the letter, it was in Tom's hands. He tried opening it, but there was some sort of spell on it and it wouldn't budge.

"It must be enchanted for your eyes only, Ginevra dear. Care to open this for me?" He handed the letter to Ginny. She reluctantly took the letter from him. She closed her eyes, bit her bottom lip, and then opened the letter. Once again, Tom snatched it from her hands. He began to read out loud:

"Ginny,

Thank God you're all right! I'm so sorry for leaving you behind; please forgive me. I've told the ministry everything, but they're not concerned in the least! Can you believe it? They think I'm making this up, that it's impossible for Voldemort to be alive. Well, technically, it's not the same exact Voldemort we've dealt with in the past, and I tried to explain this to them, but they won't listen. I think they just don't want to believe that anything bad can happen, now that Voldemort is gone. They want to believe they're finally in peace. Fortunately the Order is on my side, as always. They'll help us out. Right now we don't have enough information, other than Riddle is hiding out in Hogwarts. We don't know where his followers are, or how many he even has. Ginny, you're our only connection to that information. You can help us find these things out. As long as you're at Hogwarts, you're safe. Don't do anything stupid, and be careful. I love you.

-Harry"

Tom's hands angrily crumpled the paper. Ginny was aware of both his and Draco's stares at her.

"Well, then, I'll just…" she began, starting to get up out of her seat. Tom grabbed her shoulder and forced her down into her seat. He did not release his grip. Ginny winced.

"You sneaky little bitch," Draco spat at her.

"Draco," Tom chided calmly, "Keep your voice down. We'll deal with this later, someplace less crowded."

"Fine. I have to go, anyway," Draco commented, rolling his eyes. "McGonagall's going to introduce me to the crowd soon, though I doubt any of them have forgotten me from last year." Ginny suppressed a laugh. Last year, Draco had been Head Boy. He actually thought he ruled the school, when in fact, everybody but the Slytherins hated him.

"See you around, _Weaselette_," Draco said before walking away smugly. Tom turned to Ginny.

"We still have plenty of time before classes begin, and I want to talk to you now, before you have a chance to escape," he said. Ginny folded her arms.

"I'm listening," she said. The corner of his mouth turned upward.

"Oh, no, not here, Ginevra. We don't want to cause a scene now, do we? We're going to the common room. Get up," he commanded. Ginny obeyed and walked out of the room, Tom following swiftly behind.

They entered the common room, and Tom motioned for Ginny to have a seat on one of the couches. She did. He remained standing and then began to pace back in forth in front of her. He didn't look cross, just… pensive. After a while, he stopped and looked at her.

"Ginevra, what am I going to do with you?" He finally said. "I really do have to keep an eye on you 24/7, don't I?"

"I'm sorry, Tom," Ginny said.

"No, you're not sorry. Don't lie, Ginevra. Just… tell me, does he know about our… connection, with the blood thing?" Ginny took a deep breath.

"Yes."

"Damn. Ginevra, listen to me: you must never tell anyone about that. That is, as far as we know, my one weakness. If anyone were to find that out… damn. I suppose it's too late for that, now. Potter didn't mention anything about it in the letter; perhaps he hasn't told anyone. If he was smart, he'd keep his bloody mouth shut! Damn, damn…"

"That… puts me in danger, too, doesn't it?" Ginny commented. Tom sighed.

"Let's just say, if my enemies- whether or not they're on your side- if they know about this one weakness, and they somehow get their hands on you, then they will not have any mercy. We'd both be dead," Tom said.

"Unless… this was just a temporary effect of the ritual," Ginny said.

"Yes, and it definitely could be. We should check it regularly." He pulled out his wand. "Do you mind?" he asked. Ginny shook her head. He pulled up his own sleeve and muttered a simple incantation. A small bead of blood appeared on his wrist a second later and trickled down his left hand. Ginny checked her hand; it was bleeding in the exact same spot. Tom sighed.

"Ginevra, what _am_ I going to do with you? I'll really need to keep a closer watch on you from now on. Let's see… maybe if I became Head Boy, I would see you more often…"

"Um," Ginny interrupted his train of thought, "Tom, you couldn't become Head Boy." Tom cocked his head to the side, uncomprehending.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "Of course I can. All I need to do is get rid of that Hufflepuff kid."

"Stuart? You'd better not do anything to him, Tom," Ginny warned. The corner of Tom's lip twitched upward. Ginny was starting to hate when he did that.

"I'll do whatever I wish, Ginevra," he said. Ginny frowned.

"Just don't hurt him," she said.

"I'll try not to, but I am very fond of hurting people…"

"You are a sadistic, mad… _evil_ person, you know that?"

"Sadistic, yes. Mad, perhaps. But I'm _not_ evil, Ginevra." Tom said, rolling his eyes as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, please. You're Lord Voldemort. You're a dark wizard. You've taken thousands of innocent lives. Of course you're evil," Ginny said.

"Ginevra… you do realize you've just accused me of faults that don't belong to me, right? Let's get this straight: I am not Lord Voldemort. My name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. The alias 'Voldemort' was something I came up with as a teenager- something I planned on becoming one day. But I myself never became that; I never grew up. I am just a memory trapped in a diary. And now, I am a memory with a body," Tom explained.

"A body that doesn't belong to you," Ginny said. _Paul's body._

"_My_ body, Ginevra," Tom corrected her. "Paul was _my_ clone. He was nothing but a recreation of _me_. Don't you get it? He and I are one in the same person, just with different memories."

"You're nothing like him!" Ginny said furiously.

"I _am_ him!" Tom roared. "You just don't want to believe it because Paul was your little boyfriend."

"Shut up!" Ginny shouted.

"No!" Tom yelled. He noticed Ginny shutting her eyes suddenly. She was holding back tears, but one rebellious tear escaped down her cheek and lingered for a moment on her chin. He reached his hand up to wipe it away, but changed his mind and lowered his hand. Ginny opened her eyes.

"If you're Paul," she said calmly, "then that means you're Voldemort."

"Fine," Tom said. "You win. I am Voldemort. And I'm Paul. And Paul is Voldemort. Whether you like it or not, we three are the same person. And I'm the only one that's left. I may not be your precious angel Paul, but neither am I the evil dark Lord Voldemort. I don't want to be like him at all. Do you understand?"

Ginny nodded once.

"Gine-…_Ginny_," Tom said softly. Ginny shivered. Tom only called her Ginevra. She had only ever heard that exact same voice call her Ginny when it was Paul who was talking to her. It was strange and confusing. "I'm sorry. I only wanted you to see that I'm just a human being. I'm the same Tom you used to talk to in the diary. The Tom you were friends with, remember?"

"The Tom who tried to kill me," Ginny muttered.

"So what if I did? I'm not trying to kill you now, am I? I have to keep you alive, or else I'll die. So for now, can we just get along?" he asked.

"I…" Ginny sighed. "I'd like that, really, but… I have a feeling you're not going to keep up your end of the bargain."

"I'll try to be as agreeable as possible," Tom promised.

"Then I'll do the same. As long as you're not making me do something against my will," she replied.

"Fair enough. Although I can't promise I won't try to make you do something against your will eventually. But who knows what your will might be by then?" Ginny raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"Come now, classes are almost starting," he said. He offered Ginny his had, which she tentatively took, and they made their way to their first class of the day. Ginny didn't question the fact that Tom held her hand all the way to their first class; she figured it was just a show for the students that believed she and Tom were dating. Maybe it was kind of like a handshake on the strange sort of peace treaty they had just made. Ginny had no idea what she had just gotten herself into, but she didn't want to be at war with Tom, so holding his hand right now made her feel strangely at peace.

The entire day was strange. Tom didn't really talk to Ginny, even though they had every class together, and he was less sociable than normal around everybody else. He had a pleasant conversation here and there with a teacher, and he grinned at some of the younger girls who were fawning over him as they passed by in the hallway, but that was about it. It wasn't until they got to Defense Against the Dark Arts that he showed any signs of attention towards her.

"Welcome, students. Please take your seats and I'll tell you what we'll be doing in this class for the rest of the year," Draco said as his class entered the room. "I spoke with Professor Blue about what you were studying before he left, and I've decided we're not going to bother with any of that boring stuff."

"You mean we don't have a test Thursday?" one of the Ravenclaw students asked.

"No test," Draco said. A chorus of "yes!" and "awesome" rang throughout the room. Draco smirked. "I never said this class would be easy. In fact, it may prove quite challenging for many of you. What we will be getting to work on right away is how to resist the will of your enemy. What happens when an enemy has control of your actions? How do you fight it? I'm referring to one of the Unforgivable curses- the Imperius curse. I assume you all know how that on works?" Most of the students nodded in confirmation. "Good. I've been given permission by the school to use this specific curse- and no other- in order to train the students to resist it. It is a very powerful curse, especially if used by a strong-willed person against a weak-willed person. Now, let's see… we won't get too involved right away. Tomorrow we'll begin taking notes on that particular curse- you'll learn who invented it, why it's been deemed unforgivable, and other interesting facts. For today, would you all like to see an example?" Draco looked around the room. Some of the students looked scared, others looked excited. Tom looked indifferent, like he'd been through all of this before, and Ginny was cringing.

"Well," said Draco, "would anyone like to volunteer?" He glanced once more around the room until his eyes fell on Ginny. Tom nudged her with his elbow.

"Oh," she said, "I think Paul would like to volunteer." She looked at Tom who sent her a death glare. She bit her lip.

"Yes," Draco said, "Mr. Elddir is an ace student, I've heard. Let's see if he can withstand the curse. Come up to the front of the room, please, Paul." Tom rolled his eyes at Draco but got up and walked to the front of the room.

"Don't worry," Draco said, "I won't make you do anything embarrassing. Just hop up and down on one foot, that's all." Tom folded his arms and waited. Draco took out his wand and pointed it directly at Tom. "Imperio!" A beam of light shot out and hit Tom in the chest. Tom's eyes grew wide, and then blank.

_Hop up and down on one foot,_ Draco's command rung in Tom's mind. Tom grinned, his dark eyes coming back to life, and said "No." Draco frowned.

"Well, class, it seems Mr. Elddir is a very strong-willed person, after all. Good job, Paul. You may sit down now," Draco said. Tom obeyed. Draco turned to the class. "So that is the Imperius curse. You see it can easily be broken by somebody like Paul. …Does anyone have any questions? No? Alright then, we're done for today. You may talk quietly." The entire class erupted in conversation. Tom turned to Ginny.

"This will be fun, won't it?" he asked.

"Quite," Ginny said disinterestedly.

"You don't think so?" Tom asked, noticing her distaste.

"I'm… worried about the fact that Draco has permission to use a curse like that. That puts me at unease, just a little," she replied honestly.

"Do you think you'd be able to resist the Imperius curse?" he asked curiously, raising his brows. Ginny really felt uneasy now.

"I, er, don't really know. It depends…" She thought back to what Tom had said earlier:_ I can't promise I won't try to make you do something against your will eventually._ She shuddered.

"On what?" Tom asked.

"On who's controlling the curse," Ginny replied. Tom leaned in closer to her, so that their faces were almost touching.

"What if it was me controlling the curse?" he whispered. Ginny could feel his hot breath on her face, which turned equally hot. Tom watched Ginny's reaction with delight.

"W-well," she said, "y-you do have strong willpower, a-according to Draco." Tom leaned back in his seat.

"I do, don't I?" He said with a cocky grin. "Not to mention the fact that I am an expert at the Imperious curse; it was the first Unforgivable curse I learned. So that means I could basically make you do anything I wanted, right?"

"Er, right," Ginny said, her face still red.

"You know, come to think of it, I never really had the chance to practice the killing curse. I know Voldemort eventually learned and mastered it, but I myself never did. Perhaps I should practice it on somebody," Tom said. Ginny scowled.

"You said you weren't evil, but you talk about killing people as if it were nothing," she said.

"People kill people all of the time. Your beloved Harry killed Lord Voldemort. If I am to become stronger than Voldemort was- which is my intention- I must learn to use that curse," Tom replied.

"And just who would you kill?" Ginny demanded.

"Whomever I pleased. I have to get that Kent kid out of my way, right? Maybe I could just knock him off…" Tom said casually.

"You wouldn't dare!" Ginny shouted. "Don't you touch him, Tom," she warned. Tom laughed.

"I was only kidding. I wanted to see your reaction to that, that's all. You really think I'd just up and kill someone like that? I wouldn't kill unless it was absolutely necessary, Ginevra. While I do want to get rid of Kent, though, I'll just have to be creative and think of some other way to become Head Boy. Perhaps if he was stripped of his badge by breaking a few rules…" Ginny frowned.

"I don't like the way you're thinking," she said.

"You wouldn't," Tom said. "You'd probably hate me even more than you do now if you could read my mind."

"Probably," Ginny said. _Although I don't even know whether or not I hate you right now_, she thought. _If you weren't so… strange._

"But let's not forget, Ginevra dear: you were the one to break a few rules yourself when you wrote that letter. So I have to do this, in order to keep a closer watch on you," Tom reminded her. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"I already have to see you every single class and every single meal and in the common room after classes and now you want to have access to my bedroom?" She let that last part slip without realizing how wrong it sounded. Tom smirked.

"You could say that," he said. "But I think any man in his right mind would want access to your bedroom." He winked at her. She blushed, which made Tom laugh.

"Relax. It's just that it's more convenient that the Head Boy's dorm is right next door to the Head Girl's dorm. This way I can make sure you're not sending out any more secret love letters to Potter," he said.

"That wasn't a love letter!" Ginny cried, turning red. _Damn red heads always having to blush easily, _she thought to herself.

"I know, Ginevra. Calm down. What's gotten into you today? It seems everything I say makes you blush. Actually, it's really kind of cute, so I don't mind, but you might want to avoid that in the future," Tom said.

"Well, maybe if you would stop being so damn intimidating," Ginny muttered. Tom grinned.

"Do I intimidate you, Ginevra?" he asked.

_Yes_. "No." _Of course._ "…Maybe." Tom raised an eyebrow. "…Yes. Okay? You intimidate me. Happy now?" she asked.

"Yes," Tom replied, satisfied.

When class was over, Tom followed Ginny to the common room and would not leave her alone. She thought she had made peace between the two of them, but now she was just fed up with him and wished he would go away. Colin and Dennis came over to talk to the two of them about the next issue of the Juicy Hog, and Romilda joined in on the conversation, adding that she'd like to announce in her column that Ginny and "Paul" were now dating. Tom somehow convinced Ginny to agree to this, and Colin took a picture of the two of them to put in the paper, much to Ginny's distaste. She knew that she and Tom would now be the talk of the whole school, if they hadn't already been, and that would bother her. Tom didn't seem to care about petty grade school gossip. He told Ginny it was childish and stupid and not to let it bother her.

That night Ginny had patrolling duty with Stuart. They walked together for a while, chatting, and Ginny couldn't help but wonder what Tom had in mind for stripping Stuart of his badge. Stuart didn't seem to notice she looked worried, as he was talking animatedly about himself (he could be a little conceited at times, Ginny realized), and Ginny let the bad feeling drop after a while. They caught a couple of first year Slytherins out of bed and sent them back with a detention as well as 10 points knocked off. After a while, Ginny and Stuart split up to do a couple more rounds around the hallway, and then go back to bed.

As Ginny made her way back to the Gryffindor common room, she saw the portrait swing open and heard somebody step out of the portrait hole. She couldn't see anybody, but she could have sworn she heard light footsteps going in the opposite direction. Whoever it was hadn't seen her. She followed the footsteps she heard and tried to stay as quiet as possible so as not to get noticed. She followed the sound until a door opened supposedly by itself in one hallway. It was the same hallway and the same room she had caught Paul in that one night. _Somebody has an invisibility cloak,_ Ginny thought.

As soon as the door closed, Ginny put her ear to the door in order to hear what was going on. She heard voices.

"Hello, Salazar," she heard a masculine voice say. Tom's voice.

"**Good evening, Tom Riddle," **came another man's voice. _Salazar_, Ginny thought… _he's talking to Slytherin's portrait!_

"I came to talk to you for some advice. My worthy follower, Draco Malfoy, will be joining us shortly. We have some plans we'd like to discuss with you."

"**Very good. You don't know how proud I am of you that you're still around and still trying to raise the name Slytherin! You'll go far, m'boy."**

"Yes, thank you. My… elder self, the Lord Voldemort, failed, but I will not. I plan to succeed farther than he ever dreamed! I just need your help, Salazar."

"**And to you, I will give all the help you need."**

"Thank you again. I am eternally grateful to you for this, and will do anything you ask. I am your humble servant."

"**Nonsense! You are my heir. I'm nothing now. You are the one who will continue the reign of Slytherin and rid the world of those nasty muggles!"**

"Yes, well I do plan on showing muggles their place. I don't want to go for the whole mass murder approach, however. I'd like to keep things traditional. I've been reading up on feudalism, and I like the idea of it all. Is it true, Salazar, that back in your time, you tried to start an empire?"

"**Ah. I had that idea once. It involved me being emperor, and purebloods having the highest rank. The mudbloods were to be below purebloods, and, of course, muggles would have been the lowest rank: slaves. I planned on creating the most pure race of wizards, and to show muggles their place. At the time muggles were vaguely aware of the existence of wizards, and I planned to make it known to them who we were. Why should wizards have to hide their powers away from the world so that muggles could live in peace? Muggles meant nothing! Anyway, That plan failed when the ministry of magic formed and then stepped in. Did you know the ministry of magic started when I was alive? That's how old I am."**

"I did know that. I've been doing a lot of reading about you. You are my role model, Salazar. You had a dream which you never had the chance to fulfill, a dream that I plan on fulfilling for you."

"**I like your way of thinking, m'boy!"**

Ginny almost gagged upon hearing all of this. So this was Tom's ulterior motive; to start an empire and to step all over the poor, harmless muggles. She didn't like the idea at all, even if it didn't sound as evil as Voldemort's plans were, which was basically to kill all muggles and anyone who got in his way.

"**I want you to do something for me, then," **Salazar's voice continued.

"Name it. I'll do anything."

"**You are the last Slytherin alive. Royal blood flows through your veins, boy. I want an heir."**

"I… I had thought of that before. I just don't know about it…"

"**Why not? You're a fine young man. Surely you must know some young maid who would gladly submit to you."**

"Well, when I think about it… only one comes to mind. But she's always so difficult and that task would be impossible. Besides, it's ridiculous. I met her as a child a long time ago, and that's all she is to me. No… but when I look at her, I can't deny that I see a woman…"

Ginny gasped. Tom was talking about her! There was no way she would ever _submit_ to him, even if he paid her! She was never going to have his child, even if she wanted to! And, of course, she'd never want to do that. Never.

"**Is she pureblood?"**

"…No."

_What? Why did he lie? _Ginny thought. _He knows I'm pureblood!_

"Well, well, well, Weasley. Eavesdropping, are we?"

Ginny turned around to find herself standing face to face with Draco Malfoy.

* * *

**Cliffhangers are fun! haha. Well, that's it for now. I won't be updating right away, hopefully before March, though. That leaves you plenty of time to review!!! To help you out, I'll even give you something to review about!**

**Tell me:**

**Do you like Draco so far? I'm interested to know what you'd like to see happen with him in this story. Please give me plenty of suggestions. **

**Oh, and to save plenty of questions, I've come up with a little diagram to explain the Voldemort-Tom-Paul triangle thingy:**

**Voldemort equals pure evil**

**Paul equals pure innocence and goodness**

**Tom equals in between good and evil.**

**Will good prevail over evil, or was Tom meant to be evil? What do you think??? **

**-Hope that helps.**

**Review!**


	13. Losing Control

**A/N: sorry for the wait!!! Here's chapter 12! And to clear up some confusion in the previous chapter, since I'm too lazy to go back and fix it, when Tom says 'I met her as a child a long time ago,' he means a long time ago he met a girl who was at the time child, not when he was a child he met her… **

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter XII: Losing Control **

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* * *

**

"_Well, well, well, Weasley. Eavesdropping, are we?"_

_Ginny turned around to find herself standing face to face with Draco Malfoy._

"Crap!" Ginny said aloud. She reached for her wand, but Draco quickly grabbed her wand arm and held it in place behind her back. He opened the door in front of them and forced her inside, then shut the door behind them.

"Look who I found listening outside the door," he squealed to Tom. Tom looked over at Ginny and frowned. He was leaning against Dumbledore's old desk, facing Slytherin's portrait.

"Were you listening in on our conversation, Ginevra?" he asked. Ginny bit her lip.

"Yes," she said.

"Tsk, tsk. That's not very polite, you know. Now go back to bed," Tom commanded.

"My Lord, shouldn't we, I don't know, punish her or something?" Draco asked. Tom shook his head.

"Of course not. She did nothing wrong. Go back to bed, Ginevra."

"…Wait a minute! You snuck out of bed after hours! I have to give you a detention!" Ginny said, desperate to stay and find out what was going on.

"I don't think so," Draco said. "You may be Head Girl, but as a teacher, I have the higher authority, so I suggest you do what we say." Ginny scowled.

"You won't get away with any of this… Harry knows you're back, Tom. He'll stop you!" she said. She realized how pathetic she probably sounded, but she knew she was right. Harry always saved the day. Tom smirked.

"I think not," he said.

"Harry? Harry Potter?" this time it was Slytherin who spoke.

"Yes," Ginny replied, turning to the portrait. Her eyes almost widened; looking at Slytherin awake this time, she realized his eyes were the same onyx color as Paul's eyes. He was also very handsome, much like Tom, and he had the same arrogant grin.

"Ginevra, don't talk to him. Go to bed," Tom said, rubbing his temples in frustration.

" Wait, Tom. I want to speak to the girl. Is she the one to whom you were referring? The mudblood?" Slytherin asked.

"I'm a pureblood," Ginny corrected. "My last name's Weasley."

"Did you say Weasley? Merlin's Beard! The Weasleys are one of the oldest pureblood families! You didn't know this?" Slytherin asked Tom. Tom sighed.

"I knew it, alright. I didn't want _you_ to know it," he replied.

"Why not?" Slytherin asked. "Didn't you tell me you liked this girl? Wouldn't she be perfect, then, for you to produce an heir?"

"That's why," Tom said. "I didn't want you to ask me to use her in that way, since I said I'd do anything you asked."

"For goodness sake, boy, you can have any woman you want. It doesn't have to be her!" Slytherin replied.

"That's just it, though… I _wanted_ it to be her. I sort of… thought that if you'd tell me to find someone else, then I'd have to find someone else, instead of dragging her into my plans," Tom said, looking at Ginny as he said this. _Wait a minute, _Ginny thought, _he's trying to protect me?_

"Unbelievable," she muttered.

"What was that?" Tom said.

"You're actually letting me have a choice in what happens to me? This isn't very like you, Tom." she replied.

"You're right, Ginevra. It's not. What do you propose I do, then? Take advantage of you?" Tom asked.

"Go ahead and try," she challenged. He raised an eyebrow.

"You honestly want me to?" he asked.

"I will hurt you if you try anything on me, Tom Riddle!" she threatened.

"And that's precisely why I'm not going to do such a thing, you stupid girl! Not that you could hurt me if you tried, but I actually have enough morals not to force myself on a young girl," he replied. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"You have morals?"

"Ginevra, I have ways to get what I want without crossing certain lines, all right? Now I think it's time for you to go to bed. I have some important things to discuss with Professors Malfoy and Slytherin. Good night." And with that, he ushered her into the hallway, gave her a pat on the behind and slammed the door on her.

--

"Unbelievable!" Ginny said as she made her way back to the Head Girl's dormitory, since she didn't want to disturb her roommate in her dorm in Gryffindor Tower this late at night. She passed Stuart on the way back, whose room was right next to hers, separated only by a locked door. He said goodnight to her and they both went to bed.

After she got in bed, Ginny thought to herself about what had just occurred. Tom Riddle was possibly planning at that very moment to take over the world… in a less evil way than Voldemort had tried to do. But still, this meant overtaking the Ministry of Magic, probably by force, and then exposing the world of wizardry and magic to muggles, and then forcing those innocent muggles to live the life of peasants while pureblooded wizards roamed around like rich, snobby aristocrats. _This can't happen,_ Ginny thought.

And then an idea suddenly hit her. Tom was not around, and Ginny still had an owl to use. Tom had not used enough precaution with her. She could write a letter to Harry! Of course, this time she would make sure he contacted her in private, so that Tom could not know. This, of course, would not be very probable, seeing as Hogwarts has so much security these days. No floo, no apparating; nothing was allowed. Perhaps, Ginny thought, she could persuade McGonagall to allow the floo system again, now that there was no Voldemort posing a threat. Tomorrow, she decided, she would convince McGonagall it was time for a change, get the floo system working again, and then she would tell Harry to contact her at a convenient time.

Ginny began writing a letter immediately, telling Harry everything she recently found out, including the part about Tom wanting to use Ginny to 'produce an heir,' but choosing not to do so. She then asked Harry to respond tomorrow night at midnight in the Gryffindor common room's fireplace using floo powder. This way Tom wouldn't be around to catch her.

--

First thing in the morning, Ginny left immediately for McGonagall's office. She had a word with the headmistress in which she invented on the spot a very persuasive speech about how the floo system has been very helpful to the wizard society and that not to allow use of it in the school would be to deprive students of their rights to live like other wizards do. She explained that the only reason the floo system had been banned was to protect students against a death eater attack, but now that Voldemort was gone, there was no need to continue the ban. In the end, McGonagall immediately removed the spell which disabled the floo system, and stated that she would inform the students about the change the next day, which gave Ginny 24 hours for Harry to contact her before Tom could figure her plan.

Ginny had a smile on her face that day, knowing that at the end of the day, she'd be talking to Harry, free of Tom's watchful eyes. However, Tom always found a way to get her spirits down. That day in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Draco declared that instead of taking notes, which he found to be extremely boring and pointless, he'd have the students try to master the imperius curse, so that they could eventually learn how to block it.

"Now," Draco explained to his class, "I want you all to choose partners and try out the curse on one another. You probably won't be able to do it right away, but just keep trying. It may seem pointless, but you're actually building up the strength of your will by doing this, so it's really just an exercise."

As soon as Draco said the word "partners," Ginny tried to slip away from Tom.

"Oh no you don't," he said, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her towards him. He pulled a little too hard and she stumbled into his arms. When he didn't let go, Ginny's face grew red.

"Tom," she said, "please let go of me."

"Be my partner," he said. It wasn't a question.

"Alright, but I'm not doing this," she folded her arms.

"Fine. Then Draco will fail you for the year, and your Head Girl's badge will be taken away. Actually, that gives me an idea…"

"What?" Ginny asked.

"Nothing," Tom quickly said. "Shall we begin?"

"You're not going to use that curse on me, Tom," Ginny warned him. Tom just rolled his eyes.

"Of course I am. It's part of the lesson, Ginevra. But if it makes you feel any better, I'll let you go first."

Now Ginny rolled her eyes. "Well, I might as well get this over with. Let's see what I can do." She pointed her wand at Tom, to which he just crossed his arms and smirked. "_Imperio_!"

To both their surprise, a small flash of light emitted from Ginny's wand. She was successfully able to create the curse on her first shot. However, it did absolutely nothing to Tom.

"You see," he said nonchalantly, "I can't be affected by the weak mind of a child like yourself."

"I am not weak-minded," Ginny defended herself, "and I am _not_ a child. I just…"

"Don't know what you want?" Tom finished her sentence.

"I do know what I want!" she again defended herself, her eyes blazing. Tom's charcoal eyes challenged hers.

"Do you? Do you really know that? Because I highly doubt that. Women never know what they want."

"So now I'm a woman? Well, nevertheless, I _do_ know what I want," Ginny argued still. Tom, previously leaning against his desk, stood up completely now, so that he was a head taller than Ginny, and about a few inches away. He bent down so that his mouth was right by her ear.

"What do you want?" he whispered seductively. Lucky for Ginny, whose face Tom could not see in the position they were in, her red face went unnoticed. When she felt a hand on her waist, she stiffened. Then, regaining control of herself, she put her mouth towards Tom's ear, so that now the sides of their faces were touching.

"I want you," she slowly began, and she could feel Tom grin against her cheek, "to bring Paul back and get the _hell_ out of my life." She said the last part through gritted teeth.

Tom stepped back, appalled. Ginny had a look of pure disgust upon her face. Tom frowned.

"_Imperio_!" he called out, Ginny not even realizing that his wand, though positioned at his side, was pointing at up her. His knuckles around the wand, she noticed, were white. And while noticing all this, she was being hit in the chest with a white, burning light that took her breath away for an instant. And in that instant, she lost all reason. In that very instant, Tom had control.

Ginny's eyes glazed over. The other students were preoccupied with their trying to use the curse on one another, and only one person in that entire room noticed it. Professor Malfoy had been watching them from across the room with an amused expression on his face.

Tom put his wand away and walked over to Ginny. In his mind he spoke to her, and she heard him.

"_Give me your wand_," he gently told her. That soft voice flooded throughout Ginny's mind and body, and every instinct inside of her was telling her to listen to it. She took her wand out and looked at it. What did she need it for, anyway? She couldn't remember what one was supposed to do with a wand anymore, and figured the best thing would be to hand it to the gentleman standing before her.

It was quiet, she noticed. She looked around, but could see nothing; nobody; darkness. And yet in right in front of her Tom Riddle was smiling brilliantly, with his hand stretched out towards her.

"_The wand, Ginevra. Hand it over._" Right, the wand. Ginny placed it in his hand, and suddenly, for some reason unknown to her, she felt insecure. She glanced around. Where was that faint noise coming from? It sounded like… laughter. Laughter? What is laughter? It was growing louder, whatever it was. And suddenly, there were people standing around her. Most were pointing those wand things at each other, others were talking. Some, laughing. They were standing in a classroom. What am I doing here? Ginny thought.

And then, she remembered.

"Tom," she whirled around to face him. He was twirling her wand between his fingers. She went to grab it out of his hands, but he moved away just in time.

"Give it back!" she said, reaching for it again. Again, he held it out of reach. Finally, he handed it back to her, laughing.

"That's not funny, you know," she said, getting irritated.

"Oh, I'm not laughing at that… it's just, well, I know something you don't know," he said. Ginny frowned.

"What is it?"

"Oh, I'm not going to tell you, of course. But I will tell you this: never underestimate the power of the imperius curse when in the wrong hands," he said simply. Ginny wasn't quite sure what he meant by that, but she didn't like it. And for some reason, she had an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach.

--

The rest of the day Ginny continued to have a strange feeling in her stomach; she figured it must have been the effects of the imperius curse, which had made her feel very uncomfortable. The entire day Tom followed Ginny around, which annoyed the hell out of her, and amused him very much.

"You're like my little marionette. No, more like a porcelain doll. Or a china doll," he had said to her with a grin.

"Whatever. Just leave me alone."

"You know what?" he ignored her, "I think I shall make you my empress, Ginevra."

"I thought you were into the whole feudalism thing, not imperialism. And anyway, what has this got to do with anything? I thought you said you didn't want to get me involved in your plans."

"I changed my mind. And though I like the idea of feudalism, I would rather be emperor of a growing empire than king of a small, constant kingdom. And no one else would hold my rank. Just me. And you, of course, my empress," he said with a sinister grin.

"Erm, thanks, but I think I'll pass," Ginny replied. However, after sitting in silence for a few minutes- for they were sitting in the common room- curiosity got the better of her. She had to know what happened last night after he so rudely pushed her out!

"What… exactly did you and Malfoy- and Salazar- plot last night?"

"Aha, I thought you'd never ask. But since you don't want any part in my empire, then I won't tell you," he said with a triumphant smirk.

"Tom… please?" she asked, putting on a puppy dog face.

"Oh, don't use that face on me. It won't work. I'm not Harry Potter, for Christ's sake. I'm Tom Marvolo Riddle Slytherin, and I listen to no woman," he said proudly.

"Slytherin?" Ginny repeated. "Since when did that name end up in yours?"

"Since I decided it- last night in fact- and will now be known as such. I am the last Slytherin alive, so I think it should be in my title. Plus, that is to differentiate me from the prior Tom Riddle, Lord Voldemort."

"Well, whatever. You'll always be Tom Riddle to me," Ginny replied.

"Will I?" he grabbed her wrist, gently. Ginny looked around. There was no crowd of girls watching them, so she couldn't understand why Tom would be holding onto her. When she looked back at him, confused, he was leaning towards her.

"Will I always be the same to you?" he asked, suddenly serious. "Will you never see me differently? You want me to get the hell out of here, but do you know what I want? I want to put society back where it belongs. I want to show muggles and wizards their place. It's survival of the fittest in this world, Ginevra, and I am the strongest, here. I'm only trying to keep things under control. Can't you look at me with some respect rather than loathing? That's all I want."

"Is that your great plan?" she asked.

"It's part of it," he said. "But tell me how you can just disagree with it so easily? It will solve all problems."

"What problems? You don't know the first thing about this world, Tom. You've been trapped in a book for 50 years. The world is fine the way it is now. Or at least, it was fine the moment Harry killed Voldemort," Ginny explained. _He's crazy_, she thought,_ maybe he's not evil, but he's so headstrong and full of it…_

"Tom," she said with a sigh, "can't you just be content with the world and let it be?"

"I will never be content with this filthy world," he said with disgust, "And I'll make you see things my way sooner or later."

"I don't think it works that way, Tom," Ginny said. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Don't underestimate my power, Ginevra. I have you under my control, you know," he said. Ginny laughed.

"I'm not so sure about that," she said. He just grinned.

"Kiss me," he said. Ginny looked at him.

"Excuse me?"

As soon as their eyes locked, something happened. Ginny's eyes glazed over. The strange feeling of uncertainty once again washed over her suddenly, and time seemed to freeze. It was only her and Tom, and nobody else around them. And Tom's creamy voice flooded through her head.

"_Kiss me, Ginevra_."

And for some reason, it made perfect sense to her to do just that. So she leaned in, closed her eyes, and kissed him.

Tom put his hands on her shoulders and leant into her, breathing her in, enjoying the moment, which did not last long, as he pushed her away in the end. And as soon as his lips left hers, her eyes returned to normal, as did her sense of reason.

"W-what just happened?" Ginny stood up and backed away from Tom. He grinned wickedly.

"Let me tell you something about the imperius curse, Ginevra. It is not broken until the one who casts it decides to break it," Tom replied, standing up to face her.

"So from before… but I thought I resisted it, and the spell broke?" Ginny said.

"You didn't resist it. I just loosened the curse's hold on you for a little while. I was able to bring it back, and then I broke it just now," he explained.

"So that explains the weird feeling in my stomach… the curse was still effective. Then that means you can control me whenever you want to… Ugh, please, tell me you're not going to do that…"

"Actually, you can break the curse yourself if you have a strong enough will to resist it, but obviously you didn't just now. Which means, as I just demonstrated, that I can get you to do whatever I want. But relax," he said with a comforting smile, "I won't be using that curse on you. That was just an experiment. I may use it in the future, however, if need be…"

"You'd better not. Tom, stop grinning like that! It creeps me out… stop it."

"All right, Ginevra, I'll leave you alone for today," Tom said, "But do _not_ take what I said lightly, okay? I proved to you how much power I have over you, so don't make me do anything I'll regret. Understand?"

Ginny nodded, and Tom walked away. She still had an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach, but it wasn't because the imperius curse was still effective. No, like Tom said, he had broken the curse right then. Ginny just couldn't shake off the feeling she had when she was kissing him. It felt so… strange to her, but why? It wasn't right; she wasn't in her right mind. And yet… such a feeling of nostalgia had passed through her.

--

That night, Ginny stayed in the Gryffindor Tower, and waited until quarter to 12 to sneak down to the common room. She waited a good half hour after midnight before she finally saw a spark of green light, and then Harry's head appeared in the flames.

"Harry!" she ran up to the fireplace. Harry smiled sadly.

"Are you all right? I got your letter," he said.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you. Thankfully I got McGonagall to allow the floo system to be used again. Unfortunately Tom will find out about that tomorrow, when McGonagall announces it to the school. But for now, thank God we can speak to each other," Ginny said.

"Yes. How is it going? I hope Riddle's not giving you problems?" Harry responded.

"Not at first; he made it seem like he was leaving me alone, but now he won't leave me alone. He… he used the imperius curse on me!"

"In the school? How?"

"Malfoy's the new Defense Against Dark Arts professor, like I told you, and he's gotten permission for us to use it! It frightens me, Harry. Tom can… He can make me do whatever he wants…"

"What did he do to you?" Harry asked with a look of pure concern on his features.

"Nothing," Ginny lied, "but he's threatening me with it if I do anything he doesn't like. Oh, Harry! With him and Draco watching me like I'm their prisoner… I don't know what to do…"

"It's okay. Listen. We're all doing our best here. Molly says to tell you she loves you, by the way, and to hang in there. Anyway, while you're stuck at Hogwarts, Riddle doesn't have the advantage, Ginny. You do. He can't harm you, either, so you're safe. And right now only you can do anything that will actually help us in this situation. While Tom is at Hogwarts, you have to find out exactly what he's up to, okay? And I know this may sound ridiculous to you, but since you mentioned that he's looking for an heir and was, well, thinking about you, and all… well, if you can sort of, try and get on his good side, you may be able to influence him?" Ginny raised an eyebrow.

"What exactly do you mean by getting on his good side and influencing him?"

"Well, not by being too forward, or anything, but if you sort of… soften him up a bit…."

"You're asking me to sleep with him, aren't you?!" Ginny cried, outraged.

"No! Not at all," Harry said. "Listen. Tom Riddle… is crazy. I know about his life. I know that he's never really experienced a loving family, or love in general, for that matter. But if you'd just show him some compassion, then maybe he'd, well, soften up, like I said." Ginny laughed.

"Ha, I doubt that," she said.

"No. Listen, Ginny. Just try it. Try to be a little selfless here. Don't you feel sorry for him in the slightest?"

"No. I hate him. Why? Do you?" Harry looked away.

"I… used to hate my enemies. Loathe them, really. But after I defeated Voldemort, and watched what became of his followers… I feel sorry for them, that they had to lead such terrible lives. Some of them never knew what love was, and the only thing they had in this world was Voldemort, so they followed him. They were cowards, all of them, but I pitied each and every one of them. And I forgave them. I think you need to do the same for Tom, if we're ever going to stop him," Harry explained. Ginny sighed.

"I… I don't think I can ever forgive Tom…" she thought back to that kiss earlier on. "No! I can't forgive him! He's so… he makes me so angry!" Ginny bit her lip to keep from sobbing. "I h-hate him!"

"You can hate him all you want, then," Harry said. "But it would make things easier if you didn't. Anyway, I'm going to go. Best of luck to you…"

"Harry! Don't leave me!" Ginny reached her hands out towards him.

"I have to. But please try to have some compassion for Tom Riddle, like I said. We can't very well kill him, as doing so would result in your death, so we have to find alternate means of stopping him. Remember that, Ginny." And with that, Harry left.

"Harry!" Ginny cried, but the green flames had already died down, and he was gone.

"Damn it, Harry!" Ginny raked her hands through her hair in frustration. "What's wrong with you? This isn't like you at all… and how on earth am I supposed to show compassion for Tom Riddle? Have you gone mad? …Ugh, this makes no sense!" And with that, she got up, went upstairs to her dormitory, crept inside, surprisingly without disturbing Tara who was a very light sleeper, and then crawled into bed and tossed and turned until she fell asleep.

--

That morning, Tara woke Ginny up early by shaking her violently. Ginny, who had had a poor night's sleep, was angry, but not as angry as Tara.

"You kept me up all night, you know! I didn't want to say anything, but you were so noisy! You know how light of a sleeper I am, yet you come in the room in the middle of the night and then move around for the rest of it. Honestly, I didn't want to be rude, but now you leave me no choice. You're Head Girl; you have your own private dormitory! Can't you use that?" Ginny bowed her head in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, Tara. You know I'm usually quiet when I sleep, but a lot's been on my mind, and… last night I needed to sleep here because I stayed up late, erm, studying in the common room, and I didn't want to wander around the hallways in the middle of the night, so…"

"Just, next time you stay up late, whether it's for studying, or patrolling the hallways, or whatever, please use the other dormitory. I need to sleep," Tara explained calmly.

"Sure, of course," Ginny said, while muttering under her breath, "_You didn't have to wake me up so early…"_

That morning McGonagall announced to the school that the floo system has been started again. A lot of students were happy about this, while most of the younger ones could care less. Fortunately for Ginny, Tom didn't react to this announcement. _Maybe he won't find out about me contacting Harry_, she thought.

--

During Defense Against the Dark Arts class that day, Professor Malfoy shocked everybody by throwing a pop quiz.

"This quiz," he explained, "is to see how well you have been paying attention while Professor Blue was still teaching this class. This determines your grades for the rest of the year. If you fail this quiz, you fail for the year. And considering this is your last year here, you won't be able to repeat this class next year, which means that you won't graduate."

There was a murmur throughout the crowd of students. Everybody was wondering how Malfoy could do something so suddenly like this that would determine whether or not they would graduate!

Professor Malfoy passed out the test papers. "You have a half hour. You may begin," he said. Ginny looked at her paper. There were over thirty questions! And they were hard, too. Suddenly, she couldn't remember a thing she had learned. She glanced over at Tom after a few minutes; he was finished already!

"Eyes on your own paper, Ms. Weasley," Malfoy warned. "You don't want me to fail you for the year. You'd be stripped of your Head Girl's badge, you know."

Ginny narrowed her eyes at Malfoy but then returned to her work. She was able to answer at least 25 questions before time was up, and she thought she did pretty well, considering the situation.

"Tomorrow you will be receiving your scores, and we will see whether or not you graduate this year," Malfoy said to the class as he collected everybody's papers.

Ginny turned to Tom.

"How the hell did you know all of those answers? You cheated, didn't you?" she asked. Tom laughed.

"I didn't have to cheat. This is grade school stuff, Ginevra. Professor Blue taught us nothing. You don't know anything about the Dark Arts," he explained.

--

When the tests were handed back on Friday with everybody's scores, Ginny was relieved to have passed. She had more than 75 percent of the questions correct. Everybody else passed as well, except for one person.

"Stuart Kent," Professor Malfoy said as he handed his paper back to him. "You obviously did not pay attention in this class. You had only three questions correct! I am sorry to say this but I will have to fail you for the year."

"W-what?" Stuart said, horrified. He looked his test paper over and then shook his head.

"I have to graduate, Professor. This is ridiculous. Is there any way I can make it up?"

"Hmm… I suppose if you do some extra credit you can end up being allowed to graduate, but… when I said you'd fail for the year, I wasn't joking… and that means you'll have to be stripped of your Head Boy's badge."

"No! You can't… please, there must be some way. This is ridiculous!" Stuart complained.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Kent. I've already informed the headmistress of what's happened," Malfoy explained.

Ginny watched all of this in horror as she realized what was going on. Tom had planned all of this so that he could become Head Boy! That bastard!

"Professor McGonagall has also told me to take your badge from you," Malfoy explained, "Tomorrow morning, she is making the announcement, and they'll be holding elections for a new Head Boy that day. I'm terribly sorry, Mr. Kent, but you should have paid more attention in class."

Ginny looked over at Tom; he had a look of satisfaction in his eyes.

"You conniving pig," she said to him, "How could you do this to Kent?" Tom looked at her and shrugged.

"At least I didn't kill him, right? I told you: I always find a way to get what I want. Don't underestimate me," he warned.

--

That night was supposed to be Stuart's patrolling duties, but since he was stripped of his Head Boy's badge, he couldn't fulfill said duties. Instead he spent the night moving his stuff out of the Head Boy's dormitory and into his dormitory at Hufflepuff tower. Ginny neglected her responsibility of taking over Stuart's patrolling for the night, and instead went to bed early, this time in her Head Girl's dormitory, for fear of another bad encounter with Tara.

_What the hell has happened?_ Ginny thought to herself as she got into bed. _Poor Kent… now that he's gone, Tom will most likely be elected Head Boy, and- oh dear God- he'll be sleeping in the room next to mine! Ugh, just the thought of it creeps me out! And I can't go back to the other dormitory because Tara has to be such a damn light sleeper! And then there's the whole Imperius Curse thing. What'll I do? Harry was wrong. I'm not the one who has the advantage. Everything's turned around. I've entirely lost control of the situation… **

* * *

**_

**A/N: there you have it! Chapter 12. What do you think about the change of events? I hope you enjoyed it, but please give me suggestions as to what you'd like to see! Please review with your opinion, even if it's a flame. Well, okay, please don't flame me. Just… constructive criticism would be helpful. Review!!!**


	14. Let the Games Begin

**A/N: Don't like it, don't read it (and certainly DON'T review). It's that easy.**

**Sorry for the wait. Here it is. **

* * *

**Chapter XIII: Let the Games Begin**

"May I please have everyone's attention?" Professor McGonagall stood up in front of the entire school at breakfast that morning. Ginny was sitting at the Gryffindor table, next to Tom, who had decided to put his arm around her shoulders. At the headmistress's words, her stomach turned; she knew what was coming next.

"I have unfortunate news; our Head Boy, Stuart Kent, can no longer fulfill his duties, due to certain circumstances. This is one of the few times in Hogwarts history that this has happened, and when it does happen, the school holds an election for the position. This morning we will be accepting nominations from the entire school for any of the 7th year boys. At the end of the day we will announce the candidates. Tomorrow afternoon the actual election will be held, and the candidates will say a short speech beforehand. I am placing a box up here at the front of the great hall; if anybody would like to nominate someone, please write the name down and place it in the box here. The only rule is that you cannot nominate yourself, and you cannot vote for yourself. The box is charmed so that this will not occur. That is all."

There was a loud commotion from among the students; everybody was talking about who they wanted the new Head Boy to be. Ginny had no doubt that Tom would be nominated, considering how popular he had become. There had to be somebody who could compete with him, someone who rivaled him for his popularity… but whom? Ginny looked around the room, until her eyes fell on the Slytherin table. Damien Crowe would be a perfect candidate. He was the most popular Slytherin since Draco Malfoy had graduated, and he was pretty good-looking, too, with short sandy brown hair, piercing silver eyes, a nice jaw line and a trademark Slytherin grin. Ginny knew that he was irresponsible and might not make the best Heady Boy, but anybody would be better than Tom. The question was: would anybody vote for Damien? Tom was far more popular. Damien would most likely only get the Slytherin votes… but perhaps if Ginny encouraged her friends to vote for him, it would work…

Ginny looked over at Tom. He grinned at her smugly. She grimaced back.

_You've got to fight fire with fire, Ginny, _she told herself.

Already somebody was walking up to the box to put a name in. It was Romilda Vane.

Ginny squeezed herself out from under Tom's arm and stood up, following Romilda to the front of the room. Tom stood up.

"Ginevra, love, what do you think you're doing?" he asked casually. She looked back at him and smiled.

"Nominating a friend of mine. I hope that doesn't bother you."

"Of course not. Why would it? I mean, he's not going to win."

"Oh, I think he is," Ginny said. She kept walking. Tom followed. By this time Romilda was already slipping the name Paul Elddir into the box. Ginny grabbed a piece of parchment and wrote down _Damien Crowe_. She shoved it in the box before Tom had a chance to see.

"Good luck," Ginny told Tom as she walked over towards the Slytherin table. _Time to make nice with the Slytherins,_ she thought. There were no empty seats available, but one of Damien's followers- a short, puny looking 4th year, was sitting next to him, gazing on at him in admiration as he spoke to another 7th year on his other side. Ginny waltzed straight up to them.

"Excuse me," she said, "do you mind if I sit here?" Damien turned around, looked her up and down, and raised an eyebrow.

"Where? There aren't any seats and if I'm not mistaken, that's a Gryffindor crest you've got on there, Red."

"Well, if you look next to that Gryffindor crest, you'll see a Head Girl badge, which means I can sit wherever I want. And it looks like this seat isn't taken. I don't see anybody there, do you?" She motioned to the chair the little 4th year was sitting at. Damien smirked, which reminded her of Malfoy for a second.

"No, you're right. There's no one there. Go ahead and have a seat," he said. Immediately, the 4th year got up and moved down to the other end of the table, not wanting to disobey Damien. Ginny sat down.

"How can I be of service, Red?" Damien asked.

"The name's Ginny. And I'm glad you asked that, actually," Ginny responded. "I need you to do something for me. You see, I've just nominated you for the position of Head Boy."

"Is that so?" Damien asked with a grin. "I think I like you already, Red. I mean, Ginny. Just name whatever it is you want and it's done." Ginny smiled sweetly.

"Alright. I need you to win this election. Simple as that. Just make sure nobody votes for Paul Elddir. Okay?"

"Elddir? I know that kid," one of Damien's friends commented.

"Nice guy," another added. _Sheesh, even the Slytherins like him,_ Ginny thought.

"Er, just out of curiosity, what've you got against him?" Damien asked.

"Well, you see, we're dating. Sort of. But I'm kind of… pissed off at him…"

"Ah, I see, you want to make him jealous. Well, then, whether or not it's for your own selfish reasons, I certainly wouldn't mind being Head Boy. I'll do it," Damien said.

"Really? Great. We just need to come up with a campaign plan now," Ginny said. She looked over at Tom who had taken his seat at the Gryffindor table and was now glaring at her.

* * *

At dinner that night, the nominees for Head Boy were announced. Three boys were chosen, two of which obviously were Paul Elddir and Damien Crowe. The third was some Ravenclaw boy who was at the top of his class, but who would probably not be getting many votes. 

Tom had confronted Ginny earlier that day, asking her what she was up to, but Ginny just smiled and wouldn't say a word. This greatly aggravated Tom, but he did nothing about it; he wanted to see for himself what Ginny had planned, and he knew that he'd find out by the end of the day.

As soon as Damien's name was announced, Tom went up to him and asked him politely to not interfere with his affairs. He explained that he wanted the Head Boy badge for himself, and that it would be wise if Damien didn't get in his way.

"You know, Paul," Damien had said, "I appreciate you telling me this, but the truth is, I want that Head Boy badge, too, and nothing's going to stop me from getting it."

Ginny had been standing nearby, and she witnessed Tom begin to fume and then walk away silently. It had been a glorious moment for her, and she knew that her fate lied in the hands of Damien Crowe… as well as the entire student body of Hogwarts.

Ginny immediately set to work making Vote for Crowe posters, Vote for Crowe buttons, Vote for Crowe t-shirts, and other "Crowe" merchandise, with the help of some of Damien's Slytherin fans. She stayed up all night working on this, and the next morning she handed them out to people. She spent the remainder of the day avoiding Tom—which was no problem since he had a horde of girls following him around all day—as well as talking to everybody she knew and begging them to vote for Damien. And Ginny, being Head Girl and pretty social herself, happened to know a lot of people: Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws alike.

Damien had done an excellent job of getting people on his good side. He promised to be the best Head Boy Hogwarts has seen, helped hand out merchandise, and shook people's hands. He even shook Tom's hand, being a good sport, and then handed him a t-shirt, which Tom threw in the trash later.

After classes, everybody assembled in the Great Hall, where the speeches were to be made. Damien wooed the crowd with a speech about equality between houses. Everybody seemed to be convinced that Damien would make a very agreeable, responsible Head Boy, but then Tom got up in front of everybody and spoke.

"Hello everybody," he began in his faux French accent, "I know that I have not been in zis school for vairy long, but I promise you that I know, more than anybody ere, what eez best for Hogwarts." As he continued speaking, Ginny looked around the room. She noticed that each girl had her eyes glued to Tom. _What are they drooling about? There's nothing to see! Tom's just… grinning charmingly at all of them. And he did something to his hair, didn't he? It's getting longer, starting to fall in his eyes in a sexy sort of way… God damn it, this is not good!_

Everybody clapped after Tom's speech, which they hadn't done for Damien. Well, it was an impressive speech after all, and Ginny knew right there that Damien didn't stand a chance. _There has to be another way,_ she thought.

The speeches were over; everybody was going up now to cast their vote. Tom put his ballot in first, and then Damien. The rest of the students followed. It took all afternoon. Ginny waited until everybody was finished to place her ballot in. Tom stopped her before she did so.

"Don't even bother, Ginevra. You know you can't win." He grinned wickedly. Ginny put her vote in and walked away from him silently.

"Don't walk away from me, Ginevra! I don't like this attitude you've been giving me lately," he said, following her. She continued to walk away.

"Ginevra! Why are you doing this?" he asked. She turned around.

"Because I don't want you to be Head Boy, Tom. I don't want you in my life anymore," she replied.

"You know that's not going to happen. I'm not going to just leave. Whether or not you like it, I'll be here, and now that I'm going to be Head Boy, I'll have a closer watch on you. You need to learn to live with that, okay? It's your fault, anyway, for being so damn stubborn."

"My fault? How is it my fault, Tom?"

"You sent that letter to Potter! You were asking for it! I gave you rules, Ginevra, that you promised not to break, and you broke them."

"Students! If I may have your attention please," Professor McGonagall's voice interrupted their argument.

"The vote is in. The winner will now be revealed."

Both Tom and Ginny kept their eyes glued to each other. They were both fuming, and not one of them dared to blink.

"The new Head Boy is—"

Ginny bit her lip.

"—Paul Elddir."

"Sorry, Red, I tried," Damien Crowe threw his arm around Ginny's shoulders casually. He looked up at Tom, at whom she was still staring angrily.

"Hey, mate, good game, eh?" Damien held out his hand. Tom shoved it away.

"You would do well to remove your arm from around _my_ girl," he said. Tom looked very angry, and Ginny couldn't pinpoint why. And she hadn't heard Tom ever refer to her as "his girl" before.

"Tom…" she said to him, trying to calm him down.

"Who's Tom?" Damien asked. Ginny sighed and gently placed her hand on Damien's arm.

"Thanks for everything, Crowe, but I've got this," she said to him. Damien just nodded and took his arm off, then walked away, confused. Ginny turned to Tom.

"I don't like that boy, Ginevra. I don't want you speaking to him ever again, and I don't want to see his face again, either."

"Tom, why are you so mad at him? You won the election; you got exactly what you wanted," Ginny said.

"I didn't like the way he was looking at you earlier today… and you had to go and nominate him, too. Even if he didn't win, that still makes me so… angry," Tom replied.

"Oh. I get it now," Ginny said. "You're _jealous_."

"What? Don't be ridiculous, Ginevra. I have no cause to be jealous of anyone. Where do you come up with these ridiculous ideas, anyway?" Ginny grinned.

"I'll show you where." She walked up to Damien, who had gone over to talk to one of his friends, and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around, and Ginny pulled him to her and kissed him.

This was a bad move. For one thing, Damien had just broken up with a Slytherin 6th year named Jenna Robins who was still very possessive of him, and she happened to be glaring at Ginny with malice. For another thing, Tom _was_ jealous, as Ginny had suggested, or at least just very possessive of her, and him seeing Damien kiss her was not exactly something that was making him smile. As for Damien, he was enjoying himself—until Ginny pulled away.

"Thanks," she told him, "I just needed that, you know?"

"Uh… sure, anytime, Red," Damien grinned. Ginny walked away, and Tom followed her out into the hallway.

"Ginevra! What was that?" he asked angrily. She stopped walking and turned to face him, wearing a huge smile on her face.

"That, Tom Riddle, is called jealousy." Tom's face turned bright red in anger.

"You little… how dare you do that to me? You belong to me, Ginevra!"

"Excuse me? I belong to no one, Tom, and it's about time you've learned that," Ginny said.

Tom grabbed Ginny's arm abruptly and squeezed until Ginny gasped in pain. He then pulled her into an empty classroom to assure that nobody would see them.

"You are mine, and I am going to show you your place. I'm tired of these games, Ginevra."

"Tom… you're hurting me…. Let go!" Ginny bit her free hand as hard as possible, which happened to be her right hand. Tom's right hand was holding onto her left arm, and as soon as she bit down, he let go of her to grab his right hand, which was starting to bleed. Ginny ran away, and Tom let her leave, thinking how much fun he'd have later getting her back for doing what she just did to him.

That night Tom moved all of his stuff into the Head Boy's dormitory. Ginny made sure to keep her door locked so that Tom wouldn't have access to her room, but that didn't stop him. Ginny was about to get undressed to go to bed, but felt sort of uncomfortable knowing that Tom was right there. She stood by her door for ten minutes, listening for what was happening on the other side. Finally she gave up and decided to just sleep in her clothes. As soon as her head hit the pillow, there was a knock on her door.

"Go away, Tom," she groaned. She could practically feel his smirk from behind the door.

"And why would I do that, love?" he asked. She didn't comment. "I wanted to see you," he continued. Ginny got up and walked towards the door.

"Go away," she said louder.

"You know, I love how you locked the door on me. Fortunately, there's this little thing called an unlocking charm; I'm sure you've heard of it?" Ginny's eyes widened.

"You… don't you dare," Ginny warned.

"Why not?"

"I'm…" she fidgeted, trying to think of a quick excuse. "I'm undressed," she said. Wrong thing to say.

"All the more reason for me to come in," Tom said. "Alohomora!" Ginny's eyes widened again. _He didn't just…_

Tom pushed the door open and strolled into the room casually.

"Tom…" Ginny protested. He walked towards her, glaring at her with a look of anger and… _hunger_ in his eyes.

"I'm not happy with you, Ginevra," he said.

"Look, Tom, I'm sorry about before, but you're driving me crazy! Just leave me alone, please," she said. Tom shook his head.

"I can't. And you only have yourself to blame for that. I can't get you off my mind, Ginevra… _You _are the one driving _me_ crazy," he said. Ginny backed away from him.

"Okay, I'll be good, I promise. Just don't do anything to me…" she said, desperate. Tom ignored her.

"How can I punish you? Let's see…" Tom stepped up to Ginny and grabbed her shoulders and pushed her against the wall. He was a head taller than her, and his grip was tight. Ginny held her breath and shut her eyes.

"I am going to enjoy this," Tom whispered into her ear. "Tonight, I'll make you mine."

She opened her eyes wide. "But... You said you wouldn't do this! Please, Tom!"

"This is what I've wanted, I cannot deny. I didn't want to have to resort to this, Ginevra, but you leave me no choice. And you know what? It's all your fault for being so damn tempting …" He licked her ear. Ginny squirmed.

"S-stop…" Tom ignored her pleas as he began to feel her up. Ginny looked around. Her wand was on the other side of the room. Desperate, she broke her right arm free and grabbed the first thing she felt. That happened to be her Charms class textbook that was lying on her night table. She slammed Tom in the side of the face with the 900 page book as hard as she possibly could, not thinking of the consequences that would ensue. The next things she knew, all was black.

* * *

**I know, I know, it's a cliffhanger... but I've got good news: t****he next chapter's already written! So you can expect it in a week from now. You might like it, you might hate it, but you'll definitely want to read it. So if you review, I'll post it up faster. 10 reviews, people. That's all it takes...**


	15. Memory

**a/n: You asked for it, so here it is:**

Chapter XIV: Memory

When Ginny finally opened her eyes again, she didn't know where she was at first. It looked like… the hospital wing, but why? That's right. Because she had hit Tom in the side of the head with a heavy object, resulting in her blacking out. The question was, where was Tom?

Ginny tried to sit up in her bed, but as soon as her head lifted from the pillow, a huge pain shot through the left side of her face. She gasped and put her hand to her head. It was bandaged, and it hurt from the slightest touch. If I had known I was going to actually black out, I wouldn't have hit him so hard, she thought, groaning out loud.

"Oh, my dear!" Madame Pomfrey walked into the room and rushed over to Ginny. "You mustn't move a muscle. You need to rest."

"Where's Tom?" Ginny asked. It was all she could think about; making sure he was nowhere near her while she was in a vulnerable state like this.

"Who's Tom? Oh dear, I think you must have gotten hit a little harder than I thought. After all, you and Paul both got hit in the exact same spot of the head, and he's lost his memory, too," Madame Pomfrey explained. Ginny blinked. Lost his memory? Tom? So he was more vulnerable than her right now, after all.

"May I see him?" Ginny asked.

"Who? Paul? I don't think that's such a good idea," Madame Pomfrey replied.

"Please. My memory's fine, Madame. I'm fine. I just need to see him. Is he awake?" Madame Pomfrey sighed.

"Yes, he is. And for some reason he's in better condition than you are now, besides the whole amnesia bit. He can walk around, and his wound is healing quickly."

"Really? How bad is my head? Do you have a mirror?" Madame Pomfrey frowned.

"It's… not good. Are you sure you want to see it?" she asked. Ginny nodded. "All right…" She conjured up a mirror and handed it to Ginny. Then she began unwrapping the bandages.

Ginny gasped at her reflection. She had a huge, ugly black and blue bruise up and down the left side of her face. It was very close to her eye, too. Madame Pomfrey pointed her wand at a cabinet on the other side of the room, and summoned a small vial of some sort of clear magic ointment. She opened it, poured some onto her palm, and then rubbed it lightly over Ginny's bruise. It felt very cool, like aloe. Then it began to sting. Then she couldn't feel it at all. She looked in the mirror. The bruise had faded slightly, but not completely.

"Rub this on your face every two to four hours and that bruise will go away by the end of the day," Pomfrey instructed, handing Ginny the vial.

"Thank you. Er, Madame… do you think I could see T- …Paul?" Pomfrey crossed her arms.

"Oh, all right, but only because he's a patient too. I don't want all of your friends hanging around here. You need rest." She walked into the other room. After a moment, Tom came in. He had a slight bruise in the same place Ginny did, but he looked to be in far less pain than her.

He stood at the doorway for a moment, studying Ginny. She stared at him cautiously. Suddenly, his face lit up with the most gorgeous smile that has ever adorned Tom Riddle's face. Ginny's heart sped up.

"Ginny!" Tom said, cheerfully. She raised an eyebrow. So he hadn't lost his memory. But why was he calling her Ginny? And why was he looking at her with so much… joy in his eyes?

"Yes?" she replied. "What do you want?" Tom frowned. He walked towards her and put his hands on her shoulders. She tensed up. He grabbed her face in his hands and began to examine her bruise. She flinched at the touch; though his hands were gentle and warm against her cold skin, she still had a painful bruise on half of her face.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. You?" she asked. He let go of her face. 

"I don't know. I feel strange… like I've been away for a very long time…" he replied. He sat down on the edge of Ginny's bed. Why is he acting like this? Maybe he did lose his memory…? But why would he remember me? No, it's still the same old Tom, just trying to trick me… 

"What happened?" he asked. 

"You really don't remember?" Ginny replied. Tom nodded his head. 

"I hit you with a book; that's what happened." Tom titled his head to the side in an unusually adorable manner. Ginny held her breath. 

"Really? Why would you do that?" he asked. 

"Because you were trying to take advantage of me," she replied. Tom stood up. 

"What? I would never do that to you! That can't be right. Are you playing around, or what?" Ginny laughed coldly. 

"Oh, I'm dead serious. In fact, I'd hit you in the head with a book again if I wasn't in danger of killing myself along with you." 

"What? Ginny, what on earth are you talking about? Be honest, now. Did you really hit me with a book?" Tom asked. 

"Yeah, I did. Get used to it. If you can't remember what happened recently between us, then I'll recap for you: I hate you. You're a bastard, and I never want to see your face again. Got that?" 

Tom scratched his head. "I don't understand," he said, "How could I have done something like that? You know I would never do anything to hurt you or make you cry, Ginny." Ginny laughed again. 

"Please. If you think I'll believe those lies after you told me you wouldn't force yourself on me and then went and tried to do it anyway, then you really got hit hard with that book," she said. 

"I'm not lying to you! This must be some sort of sick joke, or something, because I don't see how I would ever try something like that on you! I love you, Ginny," Tom said. Ginny's eyes widened. The scary part of this was, his eyes… they looked so… sincere. 

"You love me? Okay, I'm starting to think I really hit you a lot harder than I thought. You didn't lose your memory, Tom; you've lost your mind," Ginny said to him. He stepped back. 

"Tom? You… Ginny, do you think I'm Tom Riddle? But why would you think…? And why would he be… ahhhh!" Tom grabbed his head in his hands, screaming out in agony. 

"Tom? Tom!" He didn't respond. He just kept crying out, squeezing his head between his hands. Madame Pomfrey burst into the room.

"My goodness!" she cried. She ushered Tom into a chair by Ginny's bed. Eventually, he stopped screaming and just sat there with his head in his hands. 

"What just happened?" Ginny asked. 

"His head… I knew this was a bad idea. His brain is trying to remember what he's forgotten, but it can't, and it hurts. I fear seeing you will only make it worse for him. It's the strangest case of amnesia I've ever seen, but it's probably for the best if Paul got some rest back in his dormitory, alone. You'll be staying here for the night. Once your wound heals, you can return to classes. Understand?" 

"But… Oh, fine," Ginny said, deciding it was best not to argue. 

"No," a weak voice came from where Tom was. He looked up. 

"I want to stay with Ginny. I don't know why, but I feel as if I might lose her if I don't see her as much as possible. Please, Madame. It might help my memory to come back faster. I'll be fine." Madame Pomfrey looked at him skeptically. 

"Are you sure?" she asked. Tom nodded. "All right. I'll let you stay with her, then." She got up and left the room. 

Tom stood up and walked over to Ginny. He knelt down and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Ginny would have moved, had she had the energy to do so. But when he kissed her, she felt oddly serene. She looked into his black eyes, gazing at her with… love, and concern. 

"Ginny. It's me. It's Paul. Not Tom," he said. Ginny's eyes widened. 

"Paul?" He smiled. 

"Yes," he said. Ginny clasped her hand over he mouth. It really was him! It was Paul. And she could tell it wasn't Tom pretending to be Paul or anything, because despite the fact that the two looked exactly alike, she could tell them apart through little things like the way they spoke, acted, and the expressions on their faces. She had spent plenty of time studying those things on both Paul and Tom. This was really Paul standing in front of her right now. Paul was back! 

Ginny threw her arms around Paul and hugged him as tightly as she could. Paul returned her embrace warmly, rubbing his hands over her back repeatedly. Ginny sighed. 

"Tell me this isn't a dream," she whispered after a moment. Paul shook his head. 

"It feels more like heaven to me," he whispered back. 

"Whatever. Either way, I'm never letting go of you," she said. 

"Fine by me," Paul replied with a smile, "I think I could stay like this forever, anyway." Ginny grinned. She felt childish to be saying such things, but she had good reason. Tom was gone, and Paul was back! She was happy, and she wanted to soak up as much of Paul Elddir as she could get right now, in case she were to lose him again. Who knew whether or not Paul was here to stay, anyhow? For all she knew, Tom could come back at any second. 

"Don't leave me again, Paul," Ginny said. 

"Leave you?" he let go of her and studied her face. "Why would I ever do that? Ginny… will you tell me what happened now?" 

"Well," Ginny began, "what's the last thing you remember?" He stopped to think. 

"I… we were at Hogsmeade… We were with Harry. And then we saw Severus Snape… and then… Ow!" Paul rubbed his head. "Sorry, but my brain's refusing to let me remember anything after that," he said. 

"Wow. In that case, I have a lot to tell you. But first, before you hear all the wonderful details, I want you to know that I love you. I'm saying this because I'm afraid something might happen and I won't get another chance to tell you. Just know that I love you. I know you and I haven't known each other for very long, but it's true. So please remember that, always." 

"I will," Paul said. He took her hands in his. "I don't have much experience with this sort of thing, but if what I feel deep within my soul every time I look at you is called love, then I love you, too. And I won't ever leave you, okay?" Ginny smiled sadly. If only that were guaranteed… 

Paul gently took Ginny's face in his hands and kissed her lightly on the lips. Her eyes fluttered closed, but he pushed against her to move away. Ginny put her arms around him instead and pulled him closer to her. She studied his face for a moment. It was no different than Tom's face, and yet, it was the face of the person she loved with all of her being. And maybe Tom was right about he and Paul being one in the same person, but she didn't care. Because the person she was staring at loved her back in a way that Tom couldn't understand. 

And after a brief moment of the two staring into each other's eyes with childish grins on their faces, Ginny leaned in, pulling his face to hers, and began kissing him again. She wasn't going to let him go again that easily… 

**I know it's kind of short, but I just posted the previous chapter! Give me a break! Besides, things are going to get good... just wait... and review please! Tell me what you think of the current circumstances. Thanks in advance…**


	16. Lose You Tonight

**I realize that it's been 6 MONTHS since I last updated, and with deepest regret, I apologize. I've been terribly busy. But hang in there! I've got a whole month off in January to write- and I've got so much planned for this story! Tom fans have plenty to look forward to, I promise.**

**To explain my title for this chapter: it's the title to a HIM song. I've been listening to that band a lot recently and have since become addicted to Ville Valo's voice. A lot of their songs can probably relate to Tom and Ginny's relationship, so you may see some of them in chapter titles of the future.**

**On that note, please read, review, and enjoy!**

**Chapter XV: Lose You Tonight**

That week had been the best week in Ginny's life. Oh, sure, the first half of it was composed of Tom becoming Head Boy, moving in next to her room, trying to take advantage of her, and then the both of them ending up in the hospital wing. But Paul was back, and that was all that mattered. After being released from the hospital wing, she and Paul spent every dying minute with each other. It drove their friends and classmates crazy, the responsible Head Boy and Girl acting like a couple of 1st years with childlike crushes on each other. They were two giddy fools in love, and Ginny enjoyed every second of it. Being kissed, being held, being told "I love you," felt so good. She hadn't felt those kind of feelings since... well, since before she and Harry split up. But she realized now how much she wanted, _needed_ to be held.

Of course, she was a tad bit clingy. And of course, he didn't mind. She had reason to be, and he knew it. The reason as to why Tom had disappeared so suddenly was still a mystery, though Ginny believed it had something to do with the impact of her textbook on Tom's-- or rather Paul's-- skull. And both Ginny and Paul feared Tom's return, she even more-so than him.

The first night after returning from the hospital wing, Ginny had slept in the Head Boy's dorm. She fell asleep in Paul's arms, a comforting feeling. But she had had a nightmare that night, in which she woke up- in Tom's arms. She could remember every detail: midnight blue eyes staring down at her, dark hair messily framing his face, soft lips smirking. His nightshirt unbuttoned halfway, his strong body leaning towards hers. His hand had trailed down her spine-- it had felt so real! --and his cold eyes revealed his not-so-innocent intentions as he pushed himself closer to her... Paul had to calm her down when she finally woke up. She had instantly shied away from him when she saw him next to her, unsure of what was dream and what was reality.

After that first week, things had gotten better. Ginny still couldn't help feeling that every moment she spent with Paul was their last moment together. But as time passed, things became more comfortable, more natural. And life returned to normal, for those few days.

Well, not entirely to normal. There were a few inconveniences here and there. Like Romilda being an annoying bitch and following Paul around when he wanted to be alone with Ginny. Or, unexpectedly, Damien Crowe stopping Ginny in the hallway to ask her out. He obviously hadn't noticed Paul and Ginny's overly conspicuous public displays of affection. So when Damien had confronted her, Ginny laughed in his face. What was funny about it was that a few days ago, she might have said yes simply to get Tom angry at her... but that day, her heart belonged to Paul, and no other.

While Romilda and Damien were mere inconveniences, there was one bigger obstacle: Draco Malfoy. He had immediately noticed the change in Paul's behavior. Paul had, at first, tried to convince Draco he was really Tom, but it didn't work when Draco caught Paul and Ginny kissing in the hallway one day after class.

"So you lost your memory? Figures... oh well, you'll get it back sooner or later," Draco said.

"What do you mean, lost my memory?" Paul asked. Draco rolled his eyes at this, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"You want to know why Tom disappeared? Because your brain-- Paul's brain-- has temporarily lost all recent memories: memories belonging to Tom. Any memories you have left belong to Paul, so obviously you think you're Paul. But don't be fooled; the Dark Lord is still in full control of your body. When you regain your memories, Tom Riddle will become dominant again."

This news hit Ginny hard. Paul still couldn't remember any of the recent events she had recounted for him, and she realized that what Draco said was probably true: he couldn't remember because they were Tom's memories, not Paul's. And as soon as Tom remembered... Paul would be gone. Ginny shuddered to think about it. She had feared that her time with Paul was limited, and now her suspicions were confirmed. Tom was coming back. When, she did not know, but she had to find a way to prevent it.

---

Before their conversation with Draco, Ginny wrote to Harry to tell him about the current circumstances. She told him that Paul was back, inexplicably, after Ginny hit Tom. Harry agreed to meet the two that weekend at Hogsmeade, this time bringing some members of the Order. Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks would be joining them.

They got together that weekend, meeting in the Three Broomsticks. Ginny felt relieved to be around Lupin and Tonks. Harry had suggested he bring her mother, to which she immediately said "No!" She did not need Molly Weasley to fuss over her at the moment. Lupin and Tonks, recently married, made the atmosphere lighthearted and comfortable. Tonks' hair had gotten longer-- or she had just made it that way with her abilities; one couldn't tell. But there was something different about her. She looked... brilliant. Glowing.

"I'm pregnant!" she admitted eventually, unable to hold in her excitement. Harry had already known; he was beaming at the happy couple. Ginny tried to smile, too, but no movement came from her lips.

Because she could never share that same happiness with Paul. Because there was no Paul anymore... he was just a memory, as Tom had been. And he would soon fade away. Tom would return in his place.

"Wow, Tonks. That's great. I'm happy for you both," she managed to say. It was true; she was happy for them.

"Thanks, Ginny." Tonks smiled in response. Lupin placed his arm around her. Ginny smiled back softly and folded her hands in her lap underneath the table. A warm hand grasped hers gently; Paul had moved his seat closer to her.

"So," Harry addressed Lupin and Tonks, changing the subject, "what do you think of Paul?"

"He seems nice," Tonks shrugged. Lupin agreed. _Nice,_ Ginny thought,_ of course. That's all he is: innocence and goodness. The angelic face of Tom Riddle. But underneath the surface is Tom's hidden memory, waiting to regain control of Paul..._

"We have to be on our guard," was all she said. "Tom could return."

"Yes; well, we'll have to trust you to keep an eye out for that, and to keep in touch with us," Lupin said.

"I will," Ginny responded. She hated talking like this, with Paul here. It made her uneasy.

"Do we have a plan of action? For when the bugger returns, I mean?" Tonks asked.

"We need to establish his plan of action first," Harry said.

"Yes," Lupin agreed, "what does the young Tom Riddle want?" Everyone looked expectantly at Ginny, including Paul.

"Well, er, he said something about feudalism, or imperialism, or... I don't know. He seems to want social status and political power," she said. Harry sighed.

"That's all the information we have, then?" he asked. Ginny nodded.

"Although," Lupin interrupted, "do you think it possible that he has no plan of action? Perhaps he just has an idea and hasn't yet put it into play?"

"It's entirely possible," Harry responded. Ginny took a sip of her butterbeer. It was cold; she hadn't touched a drop of it until now. The creamy liquid went down slowly, and she made a face at the temperature of it, then pushed her mug away.

"I agree. It sounds like Tom isn't sure of what he wants," Paul added. Ginny stared at him in disbelief.

"That doesn't make him less of a threat," she pointed out.

"I know," he responded casually. Too casually. Ginny clenched her fists and stood up.

"Doesn't this bother you? That Tom is going to return and take over your body? That you can't do anything about it; that you're just a pawn??" she said loudly. Paul frowned.

"Ginny, I'm just trying to help--"

"Well_ I _refuse to be a pawn!" she yelled.

"Ginny, sit down," Harry said. She glared at him, but sat down after a few deep breaths.

"Paul's in a tough situation. He's Lord Voldemort's clone, but he's also a human being. Why a clone has so much personality and human emotions, I don't know. Maybe Snape would know- he created the potion that made Paul. Perhaps it's the personality and emotions of young Voldemort, had he any emotions at all. Maybe it's the part of Tom Riddle that is human, and innocent- a split personality of some sort. Whatever it is, maybe we can discover the key to conquering Tom Riddle. To keeping Paul," Harry said.

Ginny looked at Paul. Tom's features were certainly there. But there was something else, too. His personality was hidden in there, somewhere. It showed, every so often. But it wasn't like Tom. It was like Tom, if he were a child. It was difficult to explain how, exactly, Paul could possibly be like Tom, but the best way Ginny could think to describe it was that he was like a child. Was that, then, what Paul was? An exact replica of Tom in body, but incomplete in mind and spirit? Younger, more pure, and more innocent? Would Tom have become like Paul, if he had as a child been exposed to love, as Harry had suggested? So then, Paul _was_ Tom. He was Tom, just if Tom had led a different life.

"You're right," Ginny responded late to Harry. She turned to Paul.

"Only there is no Paul. You are Tom Riddle."

---

The meeting at Hogsmeade hadn't lasted much longer. They discussed how Ginny would contact them if Tom returned, and then she and Paul said goodbye to Lupin, Tonks and Harry.

The news that Paul was actually Tom Riddle-- in a different life-- didn't seem to bother Ginny. And it bothered her that it didn't bother her. But she couldn't do anything about it. She suddenly felt that Tom's return was inevitable, and that she would have to adjust to it. Paul's disappearing from her was no big deal.

Only it was, because she would lose the one person who made her feel loved. And the person that would replace him definitely didn't make her feel anything close to that. He couldn't replace Paul, even if they were the same person.

Ginny wondered, as they returned to Hogwarts, if she would ever reach out to Tom, wanting to be loved, confusing him with Paul. Because now she couldn't stop thinking about how alike the two were. It scared her. She actually had feelings for Tom. She felt as if Paul was lost inside of him, waiting to come out and open up his arms to her. And she wanted to be the one to bring that out in him. But she had to remind herself that she couldn't change Tom, the way Harry had suggested. He was never going to treat her the way Paul had. She quickly wiped away any more thoughts about Tom.

When they returned to Hogwarts, Draco found them outside of the Gryffindor common room. He claimed to want to speak to Paul alone. Paul assured Ginny it would be alright, and she entered the common room without him.

"You're going to remember, sooner or later," Draco said to Paul when they were alone.

"I know," Paul responded, "and I'm ready for it."

"Good. There's no use resisting. But, to help you along, I'm going to give you something." He pulled out something from beneath his robes. It was a thin black book.

"What is that?" Paul asked.

"It's a diary," Draco explained. "I stole it from my father. No, it's not the diary you're thinking of. This one's different. Ask it questions, and it will answer you. I'm sure your memories will return quicker." Paul took the book. He didn't want to remember so quickly... he couldn't leave Ginny. Once he was gone, Tom might try to hurt her. But on the other hand, he wanted to know what that diary was. He wanted to ask it questions, to find out more about who he was, who Tom Riddle was. Curiosity would win out in the end.

"Thanks," he said, before turning to enter the common room. He hid the book under his robes before going to talk to Ginny.

---

Paul never told Ginny about the book. He feared it would hurt her, somehow. Yes, he would use the book as Draco had instructed, but not right away. He wanted to spend some time in ignorance... just one more night with Ginny. Why she loved him so much he couldn't comprehend. But he was glad that she did, and he wanted to be there for her, before he "disappeared," so to speak.

Ginny slept in his room that night, in the warmth of his arms for one last time. Those arms that may never hold or comfort her again. He played with her hair absentmindedly as she drifted off to sleep.

"I love you," he whispered into her hair. She opened her eyes and twisted around in his arms to look directly in his eyes.

"Do you?" she asked. He'd said it plenty of times in the past week, but she questioned it now that she knew what Paul really was... a copy of Tom, and nothing more. Soon enough, those words would mean nothing.

"Yes," Paul responded to her question, studying her carefully. He seemed to understand her reason for questioning him. "I do. And I won't forget that, not even after my memories return. I'll make sure _he_ doesn't forget it." Ginny stared at him. How could he promise her something like that so easily? He noticed the worried look on her face and took her face in his hands.

"Ginny, I may regain my memories sooner than you think," he said. Ginny's eyes widened.

"What do you mean?" He sighed.

"Just a hunch. But don't worry; I'm not going anywhere," he promised. Ginny shook her head.

"Oh of course you're not. I'm not worried," she said. Paul dropped his hands.

"What?" he questioned. She sighed.

"You're not going anywhere; you never left to begin with, right? You're Tom, you've just lost your memory. So of course you wouldn't be going anywhere," she explained. Paul frowned.

"I suppose you're right," he said. "Then we don't have to say goodbye..." he muttered.

"Goodbye...?"

Ginny closed her eyes and shook her head. So had he been trying to say goodbye? She buried her face into his chest and he wrapped his arms around her. Part of her wanted to cry, but she fought back the tears. She wouldn't cry. Not in front of him; she'd already done it more than once; he'd witnessed the tears that had been brought about by merely the memory of Tom Riddle. She would never cry because of Tom again. She had changed, since his return. Grown up, grown out of the little girl she was when she first met him. Her life since that moment had changed it's course, it's destiny, and now she'd have to face the inevitable. Tom was in her life again, for good this time. There was no escaping it. And the worst part was that she had already given her heart to him, unknowingly. She had made herself vulnerable. The only thing she could do now is keep her feelings at bay.

Paul ran his hands through Ginny's hair, and she sighed. She tilted her head up to kiss him once more, and then let sleep overcome her.

---

As soon as he was sure she was asleep, Paul gently shifted out from underneath Ginny's sleeping form. He reached for his robes and grabbed the black book that had his fate sealed inside of it. Taking a deep breath, he opened the book to the first page.

It was blank, just as Ginny had described. But Draco had said that this was not the diary he was thinking of. So what was this book?

He grabbed a quill and ink and began to write.

**Can you tell me who I am?**

The words disappeared instantaneously, and then were replaced by a handwriting not unlike his own.

_Well, it would help if I knew your name._

Paul blinked at the words on the page for a second. He wasn't sure what to put, but eventually decided to write three words.

**Tom Marvolo Riddle. **

Instead of disappearing this time, the letters in his words rearranged himself until they spelled something completely different.

_My name is Lord Voldemort._

The words lingered for a moment longer, then disappeared again. Paul wrote.

**Who am I?** he asked again.

_You and I are one in the same._

**I seem to have forgotten everything.**

There was a pause before the next reply.

_Then let me show you..._

---

**Reviews would be extremely helpful because things are going to change, a lot.**

**If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them. So feel free to ask!**

**Mina**


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